Despite all of the training and the policies most organizations will still receive a Sexual Harassment complaint. Where the complaint is registered is an important part of any harassment policy. The employees in an organization should be given several options on where to report the harassment. This aspect of sexual harassment training should be part of every harassment training program.
The logical first step for most people is a complaint to their supervisor. However, sometimes they employee won’t feel comfortable reporting the harassment to their supervisor. The may perceive that the supervisor is a friend to the harasser or the supervisor might be the harasser. Also, many people are uncomfortable reporting harassment to a member of the opposite sex. The Supervisor should be available to receive a complaint, but the employee should have other options. If a supervisor receives a complaint it should be documented and the human resource department should be consulted.
Human Resources should be an option for complaints in every organization. Human Resource professionals are trained to understand harassment situations and every organization should have two employees – one male and one female who are specifically trained to handle Sexual Harassment complaints. Part of their training should focus on whether legal representation should be contacted for advise. If there is any gray area Human Resources should talk to an attorney.
While the immediate supervisor and Human Resources are the logical first steps for a complaint every manager in an organization should be prepared to receive a complaint. The employee filing the complaint may only feel comfortable with a particular manager because of cultural or religious issues. All organizations should be sensitive to these factors.
A person filing a sexual harassment complaint should be treated with the utmost of dignity and respect. In the vast amount of cases the employee has put up with a lot of abuse and harassment and just wants it to stop. Make sure that all of your managers are trained to be sensitive to how difficult it was for them to file the complaint.
Allow your employees plenty of options in filing a complaint and always make sure the manager who receives the complaint gets advise from Human Resources and an attorney if necessary.
Charlie Bentson King is a writer and producer of training videos for TrainingABC. TrainingABC is a distributor of sexual harassment video and sexual harassment DVD training programs
