Recognize these two people? Of course you do, unless you are under the age of 21. This sexual harassment case happened to astound and amaze, while shaming this entire country and the world to this day. Our nation’s most embarrassing and “borderline unbelievable” case of the ultimate misuse of power, the most outlandish statements ever made regarding the topic, and what can happen to an individual presumably “above the law” embodied the case, and captured the attention of the world as a result.
No one can claim that the President was never trained on sexual harassment, although someone brave may be able to make that claim regarding the young intern, Ms. Lewinsky. As a man with a license to practice law, Mr. President clearly knew the path he was on when he chose to have an affair with an intern in the oval office, and possessing the naiveté to think that he could talk his way out of such a litigant’s dream. Mr. Clinton rocked the political world more than once, having also been involved in a sexual harassment lawsuit with Paula Jones as the defendant.
HRworld.com, a web site devoted to human resource information and training, compiled a list of more than twenty notable harassment lawsuits that shook the business world in one way or another.
In addition to the Clinton/Lewinsky case, some other famous, or rather infamous sexual harassment suits include Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, John Thomas and Danny Pippen (the landmark case in which the supreme court determined that sexual harassment charges could also be filed against members of the same gender), and Koko the Gorilla and Francine “Penny” Patterson. Ms. Patterson was forced to bare her breasts to Koko the Gorilla as an experiment. Senator Bob Packwood and the case which identified nine defendants that caused the House Ethics Committee to remove him from office made headlines as well.
Not a single person involved in these or other notable cases can attest that they never received any sexual harassment training, yet each of them were either found guilty of or a victim of sexual harassment in one form or another. Training simply isn’t enough.
Once the policies have been thoroughly reviewed by not only a human resource professional, but also a legal expert in the field of human resources and EEOC, the job of enforcement and vigilant oversight is just beginning. The Department of Labor office of the EEOC spells out the specific type and degree of training that must be included in any company policy package. Managers and supervisors must be trained to be on the lookout for unfair and illegal treatment of employees, interactions between staff members themselves, and interactions between outside vendors, strategic alliances, network partners and channel providers with the entire workforce. There have even been cases filed against the wives and/or husbands of employers attempting to either solicit sexual favors from or to employees, employers, vendors or suppliers as a matter of winning influence, or control over someone or something. A case in Florida revealed that the wife of a business owner unduly harassed a contract consultant as a means of controlling the work environment under which they both worked. The consultant was repeatedly touched, groped, teased and sexual favors solicited from as a means of having the consultant work for less pay, providing a “quid pro quo” defense. In their decision, arbitrators agreed that the sexual favors were offered in an effort to assuage the need to pay him in dollars.
Where is the logic you say? Typically, sexual harassment stems from emotional based thinking rather from pure logic. Harassment in any form stems from a need for some type of control of others, either through bullying or simply bullying with sexual overtones. Offenders can rationalize their actions in such a way that the actions make sense from some misguided standpoint, and not until the complaints are filed do their thought patterns change to a more logical view.
Today’s businessperson needs to arm him or herself with every possible tool to better protect the outcomes when it comes to HR, especially topics like sexual harassment. As evidenced by the “infamous” above, emotion overrules logic one hundred percent of the time, and anyone can fall victim to some form of sexual misconduct, however innocent looking on the surface.
Does your company have a strict policy in place to prevent sexual harassment? Get started with Myco Portal today and ensure that your company policies are read and acknowledged by all employees.
Here’s to Better HR,
Marc Martin
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I think this issue is so sensitive because people can’t seem to distinguish from “wanted” and “unwanted” behavior. If you are a single, available employee in an organization that does not have any rules prohibiting dating and relationships within that organization, you may enter into relations, live together and marry one of your co-workers. This seems to create issues with other employees who are neither single nor “able” to enter into these relationships. Not only does this stimulate the gossip mill it creates jealousy and outright bullying of people that may be involved in these relationships. Say for instance your married supervisor who can’t handle that one of his underlings (who he has a crush on) is fraternizing with another single man in the office. This sets the woman up for all types of abuse as she is now in the unenviable position of having to defend not only her job but her reputation, “unwanted” advances from other men and the bullying and humiliation akin to that of a defendant in a rape case. Now that’s just one scenario….there are many others. Sometimes its just a way to get rid of someone by making them so uncomfortable that they hate going to work such as say in a place with a large male population in a male related field or even a group of lesbians can be the bully to a heterosexual woman they see as a threat to their turf. Then there’s the guy or gal that just does not get it. Can’t figure out why after months of “unwanted” advances, that this person isn’t interested. Really!!
This stuff happens all the time. I have yet to hear of a male who has complained to me personally about any of this but I’m sure it happens to them as well.
But the worse situation I have personally witnessed is when you work for a “gang” of immature and rude co-workers who “gang-up” on the “new” employee to embarrass and humiliate them in order to indoctrinate them into the culture. Kind of like the hazing that goes on in college rushes. The most obvious difference being their AGE and the fact that the new employee isn’t trying out for the cheer leading squad or the sorority/fraternity. High School mentality and really shameful in a professional environment. I have witnessed this more than once and when it happened to me I was always able to “catch” them and put them back in the hole they crawled out from under.
Usually these types of environments have a lot of nepotism, and they share the same rude DNA, pathetic little brains and undoubtedly enormous sense of self doubt and esteem. Everybody’s a threat….even the receptionist. LOL. Gotta laugh..
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Glad you find the post helpful.