If you have experienced sexual harassment in your workplace that are similar to the examples in the news then you need to report it.
Hopefully your agency/organization has a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy that lets you know the proper person to approach to report your issue. Policies should provide you with a number of options of supervisors, managers, directors or CEO’s. Find the person you feel most comfortable with to discuss the issue. Management should have been trained to take these cases seriously (and now that everyone is talking about it in the news they should take it seriously).
An investigation should be done to give both the victim and accused the opportunity to be heard. Witnesses will also be questioned. If the investigation is determined in favor of the victim, the discipline or termination of the accuser will depend on the severity of the incident. If the incident includes exposing oneself or constant touching of males or females then termination may be the answer.
In some cases, where the incident is limited to inappropriate comments, it is likely training will be recommended. This is the reason why training should be done and even small incidents should be reported so the environment does not become one of sexual tension in the workplace. Sexual Harassment Prevention Training will, hopefully, prevent small uncomfortable, inappropriate acts from occurring and escalating into hostile work environments where sex seems to become a job requisite.
If your agency/organization does not have a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy then you may need to approach an Attorney or contact State or Federal Equal Employment Opportunity type agencies.
See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training as well as what should be included in policies and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.
Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.
