A Win for the Good Guys: One HR Professional Does the Right Thing and Is Vindicated

 

Today's topic is inspired by an article from Construction Dive. The EEOC published its own article with more details. In it, a HR professional does the right thing at great personal cost and is ultimately vindicated.

The Facts

A HR manager received a claim of sexual harassment by a new general manager at the construction firm as follows: 1) threatened to or actually cornered a female employee and pressed his body against hers; 2) left the door open while using the restroom; and 3) exiting the restroom with his pants undone.

The HR manager began an investigation of the claim. The company's president allegedly took the following actions in response: 1) he reprimanded her for performing those tasks; 2) reassigned critical role responsibilities to others; and 3) excluded her from company meetings. The company president also reportedly interviewed the general manager about the claim, and ultimately told the HR manager to ask the complainant to dress more modestly.

The HR manager filed a complain with the EEOC, who, in turn, filed a lawsuit against the company.

Result

The parties settled out of court, with the company agreeing to: 1) pay $50,000.00 to the HR manager; 2) refrain from retaliating against employees who oppose employment practices they reasonably believe to be discriminatory, including sexual harassment; 3) amend its discrimination and retaliation policies; 4) undergo Title VII training; and 5) report complaints of discrimination and retaliation to the EEOC for a period of three years. The EEOC stated:

“The EEOC commends Pro Pallet for its cooperation in finding an appropriate resolution of this case,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence. “This settlement provides fair compensation to the aggrieved employee and will benefit Pro Pallet and its workforce going forward. This case underscores the importance of maintaining workplaces free from retaliation, especially for human resources personnel tasked with protecting other workers from discrimination.” EEOC Philadelphia District Director Jamie Williamson said, “Title VII prohibits discriminatory harassment and grants workers the right to oppose such harassment in the workplace without fear of reprisal by their employers. The EEOC is committed to ensuring that those who stand up to potential discrimination in the workplace are not silenced.”

Issues

There are many issues contained in these facts, some of which I will discuss in next week's article because I want to discuss this aspect in more detail.

For the purposes of today's article, please understand that this settlement was due to retaliation, not sexual harassment per se. The HR manager's case was helped by the company president allegedly being a jackass. Most of these cases are much more nuanced and less black-and-white. Clear actions taken to negatively effect an employee after a complaint makes resolutions like this one happen. The company likely knew that it would lose, and lose badly, so it was incentivized to settle.

Internal Investigations

Frankly, this company doesn't seem like it would go for an external investigation. But smart HR professionals can use this outcome to persuade company authorities to allow investigations to go forward without interference. An internal investigation might also have been fine, but it's much easier for companies to ignore its own employees - to its own detriment.

Takeaways

Let's not sexually harass anyone. That said, human beings do stupid and awful things to one another. When there are serious allegations - like sexual harassment - HR professionals should always investigate. Always.

Further, these things are typically easier when decisions have been made prior to accusations. For example, if there are policies and practices in place for when allegations are received, it's much easier to simply follow the steps rather than to come up with these things on the fly. Then you have to justify them with a specific person in mind, who might be buddies with the owner, etc. That's why we recommend having these policies and procedures in place before the need for them arise.

We're here to help. We're always here to answer questions or give counsel.

 

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.