Will my career be hurt if I report an incident of harassment/intimidation?

Disclaimer: I am licensed to practice law only in Ohio and answer your question only with general legal information and personal observation.

First, it is impossible to answer your question without context and because it asks to predict the future. In other words, who knows if an anonymous report will hurt your career progression?

Second, from a legal perspective, if an employer took adverse action against a former employee for posting an anonymous complaint of unlawful discrimination, federal anti-discrimination law prohibits that. Therefore, if you in good faith believe that the harassment you are reporting is unlawful, and your former employer harms your career as a result, you would probably have a claim for retaliation.

Based on experience, though, I believe employers want to know about employee misconduct and, as a result, have little incentive to track down and punish those who report it. At best, they would use the information to comply with their obligation to provide a non-hostile workplace. At worst, they would use the information to cover it up.

If they cover up discrimination an let it continue, someday someone may sue them and discover your hotline report, which could serve as evidence of a fair warning that they ignored.

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Aug 1, 2019 12:50 PM [EST]