08/ 31/ 2004
by Charles R. McConnell
Sexual harassment in employment is a major issue these days. Sexual harassment, legally a form of sex discrimination, remains one of the two most frequently charged forms of discrimination for the majority of employers (the other is age discrimination). The generally growing numbers of complaints and the increasingly large monetary settlements involved make sexual harassment a vital concern for everyone in the company, especially supervisors, managers and proprietors. While it should be a concern of everyone, knowledge and awareness of sexual harassment is a must for immediate supervisors -- those who directly oversee the activities of the employees.
What is sexual harassment? Many of us understand sexual harassment to consist of unwelcome sexual advances and demands for sexual favors (frequently offered in exchange for favorable treatment). But what is not universally understood is that sexual harassment can also consist of acts such as displaying sexually suggestive posters, calendars, pictures or engaging in sexually related humor within the hearing of someone who takes offense or even simply talking about sexual issues where others can hear. Such occurrences can be construed as unreasonably interfering with work performance or creating an offensive or intimidating work environment, often referred to as a "hostile environment."
There are even some particular kinds of behavior that might constitute sexual harassment at one time but not at another time. For example, it's not likely to be called sexual harassment if an individual asks a co-worker for a date, but if the person who is asked declines and yet the asker repeatedly makes the same request, this conduct may then be construed as sexual harassment. Often the determination of whether some particular conduct is sexual harassment is in the mind of the perceiver. Much behavior that's adjudged to be sexually harassing is behavior of a sexual nature that's generally unwelcome, unwanted and repeated.
Charges of sexual harassment can also arise in the wake of a consensual relationship that's gone sour leaving one party resentful and perhaps vindictive. This distinct possibility has made many management groups uneasy to the extent of trying to forbid personal relationships between employees.
Most of the control of sexual harassment in the workplace lies with supervisors and managers. And supervisors and managers must be sufficiently courageous to risk employee displeasure for attempting to curb all sexually related behavior. Far too many have attempted to shrug off hostile environment forms of sexual harassment with defenses like: "Boys will be boys; most don't mean anything by it -- it's just innocent fun;" "It's just 'girl talk' -- if anyone's bothered by it they shouldn't listen;" or "It's always been that way around here -- the women trade jokes with the men all the time." But under the law it has not been "innocent fun" for 40 years, not since sex discrimination became illegal. And you can rest assured that some employees are aware of the legal avenues of recourse available today, and you can be certain that someone is likely to take offense at even the most seemingly innocent word or act that may have a sexual connotation.
Today many companies have written policies prohibiting sexual harassment and also prohibiting retaliation against anyone who complains of sexual harassment. Every supervisor should know the sexual harassment and anti-retaliation policy sufficiently well to be able to instruct employees on its contents and let them know how to confidentially report allegations of harassment.
There should always be multiple channels for reporting allegations of sexual harassment. A person's complaint cannot always go to the immediate supervisor. Unfortunately it's sometimes the case that the supervisor is the alleged harasser, so an alternate channel is made available for reporting, for example, to the proprietor or general manager (small firm) or the human resources department (larger firm).
Sensitivity to the perceived unpleasantness of addressing sexual harassment, plus an attitude toward much harassing behavior as no more than "innocent fun" -- harmless because, "boys will be boys" -- causes some managers to turn the other way in the presence of such behavior. Today, however, sexual harassment can't be ignored. Sexual harassment charges successfully pursued can be economically damaging to the company, and even the publicity occurring when a charge is first leveled can create significant public relations problems. Therefore it falls to the individual manager to recognize and react to any circumstance that suggests sexual harassment.
Although widespread, sexually harassing behavior is not nearly as prevalent today as it was before anti-discrimination legislation was passed. But it remains a major concern throughout business and industry. It must therefore be a key concern of every manager of people, and every manager would be well advised to maintain a zero-tolerance position where sexual harassment is concerned.
