Company Wins Harassment Case When Victim Refuses Counseling04-04-2007
- By Rita Risser, attorney at law

A federal Court of Appeals recently ruled against a victim of harassment who was fired for refusing to work with the accused harasser.

Ms. Baldwin was a sales rep for Blue Cross in Huntsville, Alabama. She alleged her boss sexually harassed her by propositioning her repeatedly one evening. Once he cornered her in his office and propositioned her by saying, "Hey babe, blow me." He approached her on more than one occasion and said "Hey babe" while playing with his zipper. And he came up behind her two or three times, said "Hey babe" and breathed down her neck.

More than three months after the last incident, Ms. Baldwin filed a complaint with HR. The HR rep met with her for over an hour, then called the Vice President of HR. He and another HR rep came to the office a few days later and interviewed the accused and several other employees in the office. They did not re-interview Ms. Baldwin.

As a result of the investigation, HR concluded that it was a "he said, she said" situation. The boss was told if he did do it, not to do it again, and if it was found that he did, he would be disciplined up to and including termination. Ms. Baldwin was told the result. She informed the company that she could no longer work for that boss. Since he was the only manager of sales reps in that office, the company offered her two choices: she could stay in that office and the company would hire a psychologist to work with the two of them to resolve their relationship, or she could transfer to the Birmingham office.

Ms. Baldwin refused both options, and refused to report to work for the boss, so the company terminated her employment. She sued for harassment and retaliation.

The court noted that an employer is not liable if: (1) it "exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior"; and (2) the employee "unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities [it] provided." As a result, the court ruled against her and in favor of the company. The court found the employer's investigation was reasonable, its conclusion was reasonable, and its offer of counseling or transfer was reasonable under the circumstances. The court ruled her refusal to accept one of these options was unreasonable. Furthermore, the Court held she waited too long to complain. "Her complaint came three months and two weeks after the first proposition incident and three months and one week after the second one. That is anything but prompt, early, or soon."

What This Means to You: Companies that promptly and fairly investigate claims of harassment and offer reasonable options to complainants will be protected by the courts.

 

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.