Workplace Policies to Prevent Harassment Claims
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Workplace Policies to Prevent Harassment Claims
Opinions on offensive behavior vary widely , and courts often have to rule on what is defined as normal behavior .
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While an employer ’ s hiring and firing practices may present the greatest risk for litigation , lawsuits based on a company ’ s employment practices can happen for many reasons . Poorly written policies or a manager ’ s style can embroil a business in the complaint of a single employee .
Workplace harassment can come from a lack of managerial action as easily as from offensive behavior . A company ’ s risk level is reduced when employees have a solid understanding of company policies , as well as employees ’ rights and responsibilities . It is the employer ’ s legal duty to communicate workplace conduct policies and to ensure every employee understands and adheres to them .
Harassment
Workplace harassment is one of the most difficult risks for an employer to control .
Whereas most forms of litigation are based on claims of deceitful or improper actions by company management , harassment suits usually seek to blame management for the ignorant , inappropriate or hateful actions of their employees .
Harassment is any form of malicious or exploitative behavior that alienates or damages an individual to the point of affecting employment conditions . Harassment can be caused by co-workers or managers , either individually or in groups . When the harassment is pervasive or repeated , the situation creates a hostile work environment .
No matter what party is responsible for the harassment , the employer could be implicated in an employee ’ s complaint . While it may be difficult for an isolated incident of co-worker harassment to be blamed on management , every instance of harassment must be regarded as extremely serious . Managers are responsible for promptly and thoroughly investigating and documenting all cases .
Types of Harassment
Though harassment comprises a variety of offenses , one of its more common forms is sexual harassment . While there are blatant acts of sexual harassment ( threatening to fire subordinates if they do not grant sexual favors ; an openly discriminatory system of promotion and pay ), some less aggressive forms can be the result of an employee paying too much attention to a co-worker or an improper joke that had no direct target .
What constitutes as sexual harassment is not always clear to people . Opinions on offensive behavior vary widely , and courts often have to rule on what is defined as normal behavior . Generally , if an employee feels uncomfortable or harassed , he or she should report it immediately so the offensive behavior can be stopped .
5 Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Fall 2017
( See Workplace Policies on page 6 )