My career has been devoted to helping organizations develop their employee relations programs. Most people are familiar with the term—employee relations. For me, this term encompasses and emphasizes the building of good human relations. And, this relationship-building is an ongoing and continuing process.
Along these lines, Cornell University begs the question in one of its management program descriptions: “If we define ‘employee relations’ as identifying and responding to the issues and concerns affecting the employees of an organization, then there is not much, if anything, that falls outside its scope.”
Since the scope of employee relations encompasses many initiatives, I am going to discuss sexual harassment prevention or awareness training. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination, which is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The More Training, the Better, for Every Level of Employee
Although legislation has been passed to combat this type of discrimination, sexual harassment continues to be a problem in the workplace. One recent example has to do with a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit. On Dec. 11, 2008, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. agreed to pay $485,000 to settle this lawsuit brought by the EEOC.
According to a statement by EEOC Regional Attorney William Tamayo, “The evidence in this litigation pointed to an alarming lack of recent workplace, anti-discrimination training for the high level managers involved in this case. It is unfortunate that a sophisticated employer like Fred Meyer Stores failed to recognize the importance of such training for its managers.”
In my work, I strive to help employers and employees understand the importance of educating everyone about sexual harassment prevention, as well as the consequences for not doing so. Such consequences can ultimately hurt a company’s bottom line. Employers can suffer costly legal ramifications, as well as costly repercussions from employee-morale breakdown; such as increased absenteeism and losses in productivity and retention rates.
Not only that, the U.S. Department of Labor and the EEOC expect employers to conduct regular compliance training. In addition, some states have their own laws regulating compliance training. For instance, California requires, among other things, all supervisors participate in anti-harassment compliance training every two years and within six (6) months of an employee being promoted to supervisor status.
Employers are encouraged to check with an employment attorney to make sure they are in compliance with federal and state laws. The EEOC has also published a page for small business employers, which answers many frequently asked questions.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Training can be a Wake-Up Call
You might think that everyone understands what sexual harassment is or what it is not; but I have found this to be an incorrect assumption. When I train employees about behavioral expectations and best practices, and how related laws can be interpreted (or misinterpreted), many are surprised to learn that their own behaviors might be considered inappropriate or outright unlawful.
For instance, here are just three common misconceptions that consistent and ongoing sexual harassment prevention and awareness training attempts to clarify:
1. Misconception: Harassment can take place only in the workplace location.
Reality: The workplace can extend beyond the actual physical office location, such as in a car or offsite at a conference center.
2. Misconception: An employer cannot be held liable for a supervisor’s sexual behavior as long as they are not aware of it.
Reality: An employer may be liable for sexual harassment committed by managers or supervisors, even if it pleads ignorance of the alleged harassment, where it has no anti-harassment policy in place that provides employees with related information and a means by which to report any incidences of alleged harassment. An employer also may be held liable for sexual harassment where the employer fails to respond to a complaint by conducting a proper and thorough investigation and taking appropriate remedial action when warranted.
3. Misconception: An employee cannot claim that he or she was sexually harassed unless the activity was specifically directed at that person.
Reality: Sexual or gender-based harassment or discriminatory conduct does not necessarily need to be directed at the person making a sexual harassment complaint.
I hope you can get a sense for how important consistent and ongoing training is in order to maintain quality employee relations. Sexual harassment prevention and awareness training can help everyone—supervisors, managers and lower-ranking employees alike—understand how individuals can interpret words or behaviors differently from one another. What might seem harmless to one person may come across as hurtful or offensive to another.