The Manager's Guide to Sexual Harassment

Claim your free copy of this guide now and find out how to deal with the not-so-obvious cases of sexual harassment that can trip up managers and supervisors — and lead to costly legal trouble.

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Sexual harassment isn’t always easy to spot

Most supervisors can recognize cases of blatant sexual harassment – where, for instance, an employee makes a crude or threatening advance. Or where an employee touches another in a way that’s clearly out of bounds.

But what about less obvious cases of harassment? What are the risk areas managers and supervisors face when the details of the harassment aren’t so clear cut?

Get your copy of the Manager’s Guide to Sexual Harassment and learn how to spot and deal with the not-so-obvious cases that can lead to trouble.

A sexual harassment scenario that shocked a well-intentioned manager

Supervisor Gordon has an employee named Jayne who has worked around guys all her life and routinely engages in verbal banter with male co-workers. Conversations often include profanity, dirty jokes and descriptions of sexual encounters.

Gordon’s not thrilled by this kind of talk. But it seems “victimless” to him. He figures, “If Jayne’s fine with it, I’ll tolerate it.”

One day a new employee, Martin, joins Gordon’s department. He quickly clicks with the group and shares his own obscene jokes. A month or so later, HR calls Gordon in and announces that Jayne has filed an EEOC complaint for sexual harassment.

Gordon can’t believe it. How could somebody with a mouth like Jayne’s sue for harassment? But she did, and the company ended up settling the case, paying Jayne in the high five figures to drop her charges against Martin and the company.

What did Gordon do wrong? He allowed the inappropriate talk because Jayne seemed okay with it. But Jayne’s acceptance was irrelevant. As a supervisor, you can NEVER allow sex talk and dirty jokes among your people.

Sounds simple in theory, but banter, joking and horsing around are an important part of human interaction. In many cases they’re signs of a healthy work environment. How do you know when somebody crosses the line? The courts use what’s called the “reasonable person” standard. Ask, might a “reasonable person” be offended by the language or behavior in question? If the answer is yes, you must put a stop to it and let everyone know it’s unacceptable.

Discover more examples of hidden sexual harassment trouble spots – and details of how the cases were resolved – in The Manager’s Guide to Sexual Harassment. Claim your free copy now.

Three not-so-obvious sexual harassment trouble spots

The Manager’s Guide to Sexual Harassment covers three key “harassment blind spots” that managers and supervisors frequently miss. These include situations where:

• Harassment exists but isn’t targeted to specific individuals so it gets written off as “harmless” banter
• Managers fail to use the “reasonable person” standard to determine whether employee behavior crossed the line and creates a hostile work environment – even when no one is complaining
• Sexual harassment doesn’t involve “sexual” behavior at all. Managers and supervisors don’t always realize that harassment claims arise if a person feels harassed or is treated differently in a totally non-sexual way simply because of his or her gender.

Get more details on each of these key points. Claim your copy of The Manager’s Guide to Sexual Harassment as part of a 30-day free trial to the Compliance & Management Rapid Learning Center.

Sincerely,

Stephen Meyer
CEO/Director of Learning and Development, The Rapid Learning Institute