New Case Requires Supervisors to Report Their Manager's Harassment 05-04-2005
- By Rita Risser, attorney at law

UPS recently lost a sexual harassment case because several supervisors who witnessed inappropriate behavior by their manager did not report it to the Human Resources Department.

In the case, the victim alleged 17 incidents of relatively mild innuendoes and jokes. For example, once the harasser tossed his vibrating pager between the victim's legs when she was sitting in her cubicle, and several times he grabbed her hand instead of high-fiving it. The Court of Appeals admitted that the 17 incidents taken together might not be considered a hostile environment, and sent the case back to trial on that basis.

The court also noted that two of the incidents were witnessed by the victim's female supervisor. For example, the victim was talking to her supervisor over a cubicle wall. The manager walked over by the supervisor and placed his hands on the wall at the level of the victim's breasts. The victim said to the supervisor, "How does he get away with this? Why does this happen?" The supervisor "just kind of shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't know.'"

Even though this incident alone did not create a hostile environment, the court held the supervisor still had a duty to report it.

What you should do: All supervisors need to know their responsibilities under the law. They must be trained to recognize and report all incidents of sexual behavior.

Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.