Company's Training Torpedoed by One Joke from Chairman 10-03-2007
- By Rita Risser, attorney at law

A company can do everything right to respond to a harassment complaint, and have all its efforts undone by an insensitive comment from top management. That's what happened in this recent case from the Court of Appeals for the Western region. Eileen was a branch manager directly reporting to Leon, the interim CEO of the company. Over several months Leon repeatedly made inappropriate comments about Eileen's appearance which she simply ignored. However, one day he asked her to meet him for drinks after work (she thought to discuss work related matters, as they had before) and propositioned her. She laughingly declined, but he followed her into the women's restroom, grabbed and kissed her, forcing his tongue down her throat. The incident ended when someone else came into the restroom. Eileen quickly left the restaurant, but Leon called her again at home that night, hanging up only when her husband answered. She did not report the incident at the time, but Leon continued to pursue her, propositioning her several more times over the next few weeks.

Eileen finally filed a claim under the company's sexual harassment policy. The company took immediate action, instructing Leon to stay away from her and assigning her to another supervisor. Outside counsel investigated. As a result of the investigation, Eileen and her husband were offered counseling at the company's expense, Leon was severely reprimanded and sent to sexual harassment training, and all of the other managers and supervisors likewise received sexual harassment training.

Sounds like a good response. However, later Eileen was required to report to Leon again. He ignored her and made her job difficult by withholding information from her. In addition, Eileen alleged that the harassment training was not taken seriously as the company's chairman came in and made an inappropriate joke. She claimed that due to the ineffective response of the company and Leon's repeated retaliation, she became emotionally distressed and had trouble sleeping. Eventually she resigned, and filed suit.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with the company's position that it had taken reasonable care to prevent and correct sexual harassment, and allowed Eileen to take her case to a jury.

What this means to you: A complaint of sexual harassment may not ever be "over" if the people involved are still working together. Management must insure that the complainant is treated scrupulously fairly in every instance. Perhaps most important, this case points out how essential it is that the top people in the company support harassment prevention training. Just one inappropriate joke by the Chairman at the wrong time can jettison your entire program.

 

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.