It is not impressive to ignore the sexual harassment case in your company if any employee walks up to you complaining that someone misbehaved with him or her inappropriately. Sexual harassment is real and needs to be handled more carefully. It can create a hostile environment within the company and the employee may not be able to work properly. As a business owner, you should work closely with an Austin sexual harassment attorney so that you can prevent this scenario in your office completely. Some of these steps are elaborated below:
Making everyone clear about the sexual harassment
Before anything else, it is strongly recommended that everyone with your company including staff, employees, managers and bosses. You can conduct a training session in your organization and even work with an attorney to ensure that all laws and rules are being followed within the company. you must encourage everyone to participate in the training so that all are aware of what sexual harassment is all about.
Taking appropriate actions
It is suggested to take action if someone has a complaint about the following:
- Inappropriate commenting
- Touching, asking for sexual favors
- Asking for going on vacations, dinners and coffees in an unhealthy manner
- Playing vulgar videos and music
- Unwanted flirting
- Sending sexual messages, calls and images
- Sending inappropriate emails
If any of the employees come up with such complaints, you can consult a sexual harassment attorney and ask him the legal way to warn or punish the abuser. You should never ignore these complaints because it will definitely lead to litigation.
Have a transparent procedure to report incidents
One of the reasons why most sexual harassment cases are filed is because employees are unaware of what they should do after the incident has happened. In a fit of anger, they contact a lawyer and go for the litigation without a second thought. This scenario can be avoided if a proper procedure is in place to report the incident. It is a good idea to assign a dedicated person so that he can look after the matter and resolve it between parties. Moreover, disciplinary actions should be taken to stop such incidents. Other employees should learn their lessons from one incident only. It will set an example for them at the same time.
Both employer and the employee should contact a sexual harassment attorney so that the sexual harassment finds no place in the company.
