By Steve M. Cohen bio
Sometimes it’s difficult to communicate to employers just how much federal and state law impact businesses and organizations when an employee makes a complaint.
By this, I mean virtually any allegation, whether it’s an accusation of sexual harassment, bullying or an alleged workplace safety hazard. It doesn’t matter if you doubt the complaint or have good reason to suspect the complainer. When an allegation occurs, an organization has new liability, potentially enormous liability. That’s because under many circumstances, the filing of a complaint sets in motion several legal and regulatory requirements for a business or non-profit organization.
Complaints trigger many legal obligations
I sometimes liken it to the growing legal requirement for “mandated reporters” in child-abuse cases. Mandated reporters, which include people who work closely with children such as teachers, doctors or social workers, MUST report suspected instances of child abuse. Increasingly, it’s the law.
Business owners and managers are increasingly under similar requirements for workplace allegations. Once an allegation is made, the organization has the legal obligation to conduct a thorough and timely investigation. The alleged victim, the alleged perpetrator and any potential witnesses must be competently questioned so that management obtains a clear picture of what happened.
The laws also emphasize timeliness. An investigation must begin within 72 hours of management receiving notice. Once management has a clear picture of what happened, then a proper and appropriate response to the facts must be made.
What is an appropriate response? As far as the government is concerned, employers cannot do too much to protect their employees. Various fines and penalties make it clear that the government would just as soon you were out of business if you can’t protect your employees. The organization, to protect both itself and the victim, cannot underreact. If you receive a complaint, you must react, quickly and correctly.
Take these steps now to prevent problems later
There are also several steps that should be taken to prevent sexual and other forms of harassment within an organization. In fact, an organization can nearly make itself essentially “judgment proof” if it takes the following steps. These are for sexual harassment, but similar policies can be followed for other issues such as racial harassment, bullying, etc.:
- Establish a sexual harassment prevention policy.
- Conduct mandatory sexual harassment prevention training for all existing employees.
- Provide mandatory sexual harassment prevention training for all new employees.
- Provide permanent reminders of the policy (in the form of a poster, posted on all employee bulletin boards).
- Provide intermittent reminders of the policy (in the form of a paycheck stuffer) two times per year.
Taking these steps demonstrates to the federal Department of Labor and any state human rights commission that the organization is practicing comprehensive sexual harassment prevention. This demonstrates the company’s seriousness when it comes to providing an environment free of sexual harassment.
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Law Office Manager is pleased to welcome Steven M. Cohen as presenter of our February 5, 2015 webinar, How to Build a Law Office Staff that Cares. Register today. (Remember: If you’re a premium member, your registration is free.)
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 Model Policy: Sexual harassment |
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