Our executive director has been accused of sexual harassment by a mid-level manager. How should we investigate this properly?
An employer has a duty to protect its employees from sexual harassment. I presume you have a policy in the employee handbook prohibiting sexual harassment and putting all supervisors and all personnel on notice that the employer will discipline, including discharge, of any sexual harasser.
Also, if you have a procedure or past practice for investigating such allegations, you must follow your policy. If you do not have such a policy because of the high level of the accused individual, it would be most prudent to hire an independent investigator.
This investigator could be a person who has knowledge of the many forms of sexual harassment, for example a labor lawyer. This investigator should quickly conduct a full investigation, including interviewing the accuser, the accused and any other witnesses, in addition to reviewing all other evidence.
This investigator will advise the employer if it is found that harassment happened. If so, the investigator should recommend to the employer the appropriate discipline, up to and including discharge of the harasser.
If the investigator concludes that there is no credibility to the accusations, you don’t discipline the accused.
Regardless of the final outcome of the investigation, it would be prudent to hire another third-party entity to educate everyone that your policy prohibits sexual harassment and that sexual harassers will be disciplined. This outside person or group also would educate everyone on the many forms of sexual harassment that are prohibited. This is an area of increasing liability for employers.
Please send your legal questions to John Durso at [email protected].
From the August 01, 2018 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
