A Sexual Harassment Policy from Us Could Have Saved This Client 6 Figures and 7 Months

sexual harassment policy for business

I am a small business owner and encountered a problem I didn’t think would ever impact me. I’ve been in business for 12 years and employ over 35 full-time employees. I run a nice service business where everyone gets along fine. Or so I thought. One day I opened the mail and found a sexual harassment and discrimination charge had been filed with the EEOC claiming that the company had not given her a promotion; giving it instead to another woman who wasn’t as qualified. Client testimonial

 

A couple years ago, I got a call out of nowhere. It was a referral from another client and they were in trouble. An employee had filed a sexual harassment complaint with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and they were suddenly facing a possibly disastrous situation.

This was a midsized company with a little over 35 employees but at this time they had never found a reason to put together a process to handle a sexual harassment complaint. They just didn’t think it could happen to them. This absence of protocol left them vulnerable so I went to work right away.

An employee had been passed over for a promotion and she was sure it was because another female employee who had received the promotion was having a personal relationship with the supervisor who awarded her the job.

The Challenge

Fortunately, I had an acquaintance that had worked with Katherine as an HR consultant & business coach. When I told him what happened, he didn’t even hesitate for a second. Call her now! I am so glad that I did. She did a complete investigation and responded to the EEOC, answering all their questions and filling out the forms on time. When the EEOC investigator came on site to interview witnesses, Katherine was there in the room with the investigator the whole time. I know the witnesses were nervous too, so it helped that they had someone representing the company there with them. Katherine brought in an employment attorney with lots of experience handling these types of situations. Since Katherine had already done the investigation, my attorney fees were much less than they would have been if we had called them first.Client testimonial

 

When filing a complaint with the EEOC there is no cost to the employee filing the charge and regardless of the outcome she could use the investigation documents to hand over to an attorney if she decided to pursue the case further, saving her a lot of money in legal fees.

The employee who filed the complaint didn’t feel like she had any other recourse than federal authorities because the company had never put a process in place for her to follow. Their involvement meant a full investigation. The legal bills they were facing had them very worried.

To make matters worse the offending supervisor and the woman who received the promotion denied the affair. This meant the entire process became much more difficult and costlier.

How I Helped

Overall, from the time I received the charge to the day we received the written decision, I hardly slept because I was so worried. I didn’t know how I would ever be able to pay a huge fine if that’s what they decided. I’m very happy to say that we resolved the case without any significant monetary cost.Client testimonial

 

By hiring me to detail all aspects of the situation, they saved themselves thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

I assembled every fact and had the entire situation documented for the lawyers when they were brought in.

It took just over 7 months to finally get this whole thing sorted out. The supervisor eventually confessed to the affair and was terminated immediately. The real work came afterwards when I had to make sure they weren’t vulnerable to this kind of situation again.

It’s not unusual for companies to forgo some very important human resources procedures. People are busy with their jobs building the business and don’t realize that things like sexual harassment policies are essential no matter what the business size is.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

My solution was multi-tiered and involved an Employee Assistance Program with a direct hotline for employee support and companywide training that addressed every possible facet of work conduct and what to do if someone breaches policy.

Managers were given additional training; new policies were created and an employee handbook was developed so that all employees know what is acceptable and what to do if lines are crossed.

The Results

…I took Katherine’s advice and implemented annual sexual harassment & discrimination training. My supervisors also take online training from her to improve their management skills. I also signed up with a company to administer the new Employee Assistance Program Hotline so that employees can get counselling with any issue they are dealing with on and off the job – and they can report wrongdoing if they don’t feel comfortable talking to their supervisor or me. It’s incredibly inexpensive and if my employees use it when they need it, then I have happier employees. Katherine has become my business coach and works with me on HR issues while helping me develop strong leadership skills I need to be more effective as a business owner and a leader. Client testimonial

 

This client was extremely grateful, and while the circumstances were negative, we did our best to push on and tackle the problem together. They were fortunately very agreeable, and we really didn’t hit any walls other than the offender’s initial dishonesty regarding the affair.

We were quite lucky in terms of the woman who filed the complaint too because once she had filed the complaint, she was essentially bullet proof at the business. She kept working though, doing a great job and she was awarded the promotion once the company understood her complaint was valid as well as receiving the pay she would have earned had she received the promotion from the start.

Lessons Learned

I was called in to assist a small business with a charge they received from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commitment. Katherine and I have worked together on other cases over the years and I know how she works. She did a thorough investigation before calling me in so for my firm, it was reading through the file and providing my legal recommendation to the company. I can’t reveal specific details about the case but can say that hiring her to prevent these types of situations is money in the bank for the business owner. With the proper HR policies and processes in place, this whole thing could have been avoided. Fortunately, the EEOC investigator determined that the company didn’t know that the supervisor had done anything wrong, so they were able to avoid huge fines. They had to pay some back wages, but that was nothing compared to what it could have been.
One thing that many business owners don’t know is that it is free for the employee to file a charge against them. Then, once the investigation is completed, he/she can take all the investigation documents from the EEOC to an attorney and minimize the cost for them to hire an attorney to represent them. Education, training and having solid HR processes in place are the key to preventing charges and lawsuits in the first place. But if you do encounter a problem – call Katherine; she knows how to handle it.

Sarah – Lawyer Testimonial

 

At the end of it the client learned a valuable lesson any business can take to heart: without proper policies in place you are completely vulnerable to being exploited by any employee who sees the opportunity and your employees are vulnerable to harassment of every kind.

protection from sexual harassment claims

Taking the step of bringing in an experienced HR consultant not only protects your business, it protects your employees and provides a much safer, healthier working environment for everyone.

Had this client already put harassment policies into place, the 7-month, six-figure nightmare would have been solved in an afternoon at no cost!

This is far from the only situation I’ve encountered like this. Many business owners simply don’t know, nor do they realize just how bad things can get without these policies.

If you haven’t implemented sexual harassment policies or you have any other human resources questions, please get in touch. These situations can arise out of nowhere but with the right preventative measures you, your employees and your company can be fully protected.

Taking advantage of my expertise gained over 35 years in corporate human resources and eight years as an HR consultant to small business owners , your business will be fully protected, your managers and employees properly trained and you will prevent sexual harassment claims from causing you stress, months of litigation and risking your reputation and your business.

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