One of the biggest and repeated subjects of news for 2017
were charges of sexual harassment. Most notably the coming forth of victims in
the entertainment industry. The topic so dominated the news that Time magazine
made their 2017 Person of the Year all the women who came forward about sexual
harassment.
Although it seems obvious, not everyone may know what
constitutes sexual harassment. Especially in businesses with a small, familiar
workforce. This is not a defense of the aggressors. Any reasonable person knows
that touching and sexual comments have no place in the workplace, especially
between supervisors and employees. But lesser degrees of harassment too include
verbal, written, or pictorial may be thought of as accepted behavior. When in
fact they meet the definition of harassment. This applies to the harassers and
the victims. Victims either don’t realize that simple offenses rise to the
level of complaint or do not feel that they can report the smaller incidents. Lines
get crossed everyday.
Small business owners have to stay educated on changing
cultures, how to protect themselves, and provide safe work environments. What
was perceived as an acceptable work environment in the past is not today. This
post hopes to address some of those questions.
Definition
Sexual harassment is a violation of Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which applies to all employers with 15 or more employees. The
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines sexual harassment as:
unwelcome sexual
advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment
of a sexual nature and also can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex
(male/female/orientation). Harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or
severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment. Both victim and
the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be
the same sex. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in
another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer,
such as a client or customer.
In 2016, EEOC received 6,758 charges alleging sexual
harassment. Although the majority of cases are female victims, males filed
16.6% of the charges. The EEOC figures do not include charges and complaints
filed with state authorities. Also not tabulated is the number of cases handled
within the workplace and, of course, unreported cases.
Mind of the harasser
Dr. Ellen Hendriksen, provided four characteristics of a
sexual harasser in an article written for the Psychology Today website Four Psychological Traits of Sexual Harassers November 9,
2017. Briefly, Dr. Hendriksen described harassers as someone who
has a personality that enjoys exploitation, deception, and manipulation. They
have the ability to disengage morally allowing them to justify their actions
and create their own version of reality. Next harassers are employed in a male
dominated field. This is important because women are the minority gender and
more significantly targeted as victims of harassment. The last characteristic
described by Dr. Hendriksen is an overall hostile attitude towards women. Harassers
justify their actions as being normal and/or deserved. They feel they have done
nothing wrong. Dr. Hendriksen summarizes by saying that, “harassment indicates
a willingness to exploit and manipulate as a way to maintain or gain power. It
demonstrates carelessness toward the victims and aims to keep them in their
place.” Which might explain the powerful men who have had their harassment
exposed.
Not reported
The majority of victims do not feel safe reporting any
inappropriate behavior. Fear of retaliation is one of the main reasons victims
do not come forward, that and humiliation. #WhyWomenDontReport has been viral
several times since being started as an outlet for victims to share their
stories. Just reading a few of the posts explains why victims may not report
attacks for years or decades. Most of the posts support the reasons of
retaliation and humiliation. Others relate how the victims believe that nothing
will happen even if they do report the incident.
Unless the aggressor is publically boisterous with their
behavior incidents of harassment rarely have witnesses. The strength in the
complaints comes from the victims speaking out and sharing their stories. Even
if complaints are made, the aggressors do not usually see a courtroom. Many
states do not have specific sexual harassment laws or even workplace
nondiscrimination laws. Charges are usually filed under the umbrella of other
laws or in civil court. In order to get the complaint heard at the federal
level charges must be filed with the EEOC. This is why you see quick dismissals
with lawsuits filed at later times.
Companies are protecting themselves from legal action as
well as their brand. They do not want to be seen as having a culture of
harassment. If it can be shown that a company encouraged or did nothing to stop
sexual harassment the employer could find themselves in court along with the
aggressors.
Training and Education
A 2012 Supreme Court ruling held that a company could not be
held responsible if there was an exercising of reasonable care to prevent and
correct sexual harassment incidents.
A lot of small businesses view training as requirements for
certifications or skills associated with the job functions of their employees.
They sometimes miss the need to educate employees on issues facing the
workplace. Employees not only need to improve their job skills, they need to
learn how to conduct themselves in the workplace.
Be proactive. Don’t wait for a legal requirement to provide
training. Twenty-five states have no requirements for sexual harassment
training in the workplace. The other half range from: encouraging employers to
provide training - only training supervisors - training for all employees. Some
states, such as Maryland, will take into consideration a company’s training and
education efforts when hearing complaints of sexual harassment. If a complaint
is made against your business, you’ll want to be able to show the steps taken
to prevent incidents and support provided to victims.
Training and education of employees should be held at
regular intervals. Ensure all employees are made aware that any type of
harassment will not be tolerated. They have to know that
owners/executives/managers do not approve of and will not tolerate any form of
harassment. Do not assume that everyone knows what constitutes harassment.
Educate everyone on the basic definitions and provide the outlets necessary to
receive and process complaints.
Have outreach efforts to ensure victims feel they have a
safe environment in which to report incidents. This goes back to the company’s
stance on the issue. If victims do not feel that they will be taken seriously
and no action will be taken against aggressors, they will not file complaints.
And even though a training and education program is in place, a hidden culture
may still exist.
All reports must be taken seriously and employees must feel
that they can make reports against any employee or supervisor without fear of
retaliation. Which itself is a crime. But it is not enough to only take
complaints. Management must conduct serious investigations and implement
penalties when warranted.
Please share this and any post. See are blog archive for
other posts on this topic.
Health history discrimination May 2016
Languages spoken? June 2017
Ideologies in the workplace August 2017
Workplace safety November 2017
