Harassment at the Workplace - Term Paper Example

Harassment at Workplace Introduction Workplace harassment includes offensive treatment through offensive and humiliating ways to demoralize an individual employee. These attacks are usually personal in nature and it may also have a serious impact on the individual’s performance. Work place harassment is an abuse of power in a corporate workplace which leads to the following effects to the individual. (Understanding Workplace Harassment, 2008) Workplace stress and anxiety Constitute violation of basic human rights Physically and emotionally strained Mental illness Loss of disbelief and lead to resigning from the company Reduction in productivity of the employee Creating an hostile work environment for the employee working in the workplace Negatively affects the performance and efficiency of the employee Leads to strained employee employer relationship Can also lead to unexplained absenteeism, late coming and low concentration at work place. (Understanding Workplace Harassment, 2008) James Cook University’s policy on workplace bullying states that “the unfavorable treatment of an individual in a workplace is considered to be inappropriate and unreasonable at workplace. The behavior can offend, humiliate or be offensive to the employee which can cause mental distress”. Harassment in any form should not be tolerated at the workplace and each individual should be treated with respect no matter what creed, caste, religion or color. The right to be free from harassment is a basic freedom which is protected by law as harassment is considered as an unfair discrimination to the employees. (Understanding Workplace Harassment, 2008) Forms of workplace harassment: There are different forms of work harassment- 1. Bullying 2. Stalking 3. Sexual harassment 4. Racial harassment 5. Religious harassment 6. Disability harassment 7. Sexual orientation harassment 8. Cases of physical assault 1. Bullying Bullying is a form of harassment where an individual or a group of people make unwanted offensive comments and remarks. This type of harassment can be verbal, non verbal or physical form. Usually there is abuse of the power of position which is used to demean and humiliate the other person. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) There are different types of bullying such as corporate bullying, organizational, client and serial bullying. Organizational bullying happens when there is reduction in budget, reduction in income which is sudden in nature. Corporate bullying involves taking advantage of the weak employees and pressurizing them to surrender the previously stated terms and conditions. Client bullying can be in the form of employees bullied by the clients, vendors to whom they serve or the general staff being bullied by the academic staff. Serial bullying refers to the source of dysfunction that can be traced to one individual in the company who bullies one employee after another. (Definition of workplace Harassment, 2010) 2. Stalking This form of harassment is very common in work places. Stalking can also be in many forms such as through emails, electronic, phone calls or involves a person pestering the recipient. This usually causes distress to the recipient and this form involves mental harassment. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) 3. Sexual Harassment This form of behavior is sexual in nature. This may again be physical in nature involving unwanted touching, invasion of personal space and time, rape, indecent exposure. This can be in many forms such as verbal and usually includes sexual jokes, personalized remarks made on the recipient, abusive jokes or compromising invitations such as asking for sexual demands and favors. In majority of the cases, the reports have cited the women had more of sexual harassment than men at work places there are also a few cases of men being sexually harassed by women. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) 4. Racial harassment This includes offensive remarks or comments made on national origin, color, race or caste of the person. This may also take many forms such as making ridiculing comments made on a recipient on the accessories worn for religious reasons, customs, and festivals or even against an individual’s beliefs. Person trying to spread and propagate the religion and forcing the others is also a form of racial harassment. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) 5. Disability Harassment This type of harassment means unwanted comments and remarks made on the disability of impairment of the individual which include any inappropriate and unwanted reference to disability, refusal to recruit or work with the individual, exclusion of the individual having physical disability from any social events in the work place. This may usually create a hostile work environment for people with this physical disability. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) 6. Sexual orientation harassment Verbal abuse, derogatory comments made on the individual, disclosure of sexuality and assaulting are some cases of sexual oriented harassment. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) 7. Cases of physical assault If an individual is attacked physically, it becomes a criminal offense and this needs to be taken further with the criminal courts. (Types of Harassment and Bullying, n.d) Quid Pro Quo Harassment Quid Pro Quo (“this for that”) harassment happens when employees academic or future work decisions such as performance appraisals, increase in salary, hiring, promotions, assistance to school admissions depend on an employees submission or rejection to sexual requests or favors. These situations involve tangible actions that can affect the work condition of the employee. Some examples of the type of harassment are In case of any promotion, appraisal and hike in salary, the employer demands sexual favors in exchange Firing an employee, improper treatment for an employee who is refusing or denying sexual advances Departmental or any change in work after an employee refuses to exchange sexual favors. (Oregon Health & Science University, 2008) Hostile work Environment harassment This type of harassment occurs with the conduct of the person and comments are based on race, sex, culture, tradition and this interferes with the employee’s work performance which creates a hostile work environment. People who can commit this type of harassment can be a co-worker, supervisor, management, vendor or non employee. Some examples of such hostile harassment include the following: Making offensive comments on one’s color, looks and clothes Sending or forwarding letters, emails or images which are very offensive in nature Use of derogatory words or phases in the conversation Making remarks or comments on individual’s gender Making negative comments regarding the employee’s birthplace Demonstration of racial gestures, pictures which can offend the community or the caste of the particular person Making fun of an employees age References made on employees physical disablement Harassment in any of these forms occur when the management official harassing results in changes in the employment such as recruitment, training, promotion, considerable changes in terms of benefits and compensation. (1) Any claim of harassment requires the following elements to be present which are The complaining person must be protected in the statutory class The complaining person must have been subjected to the above verbal or physical conduct which are related to the protected class The offensive conduct was based on the membership in the protected class It should also prove that the employment condition was affected and interfered with the employee’s performance (1) Examples of harassment According to the labor laws, examples of harassment at workplace includes,- Bullying and teasing co-workers or employees Insulting an individual and spreading rumors around the workplace regarding the race, color, religion and disability grounds Picking on someone or ridiculing someone Exclusion or victimization Misuse of power or grade Criticizing the work done and unfair treatment given to the employees Preventing growth for a the individual in the organization Threatening about job security Blocking the promotion cycle provided to the employee (5 ) Good employers need to protect their workers from the harassment and educate them on these issues. Training on code of conduct on harassment should be provided to the employees. This is usually done in consultation with the employees and the employers in many organizations. How to investigate a Harassment Claim Great care must be taken while handling such harassment claim as they are very sensitive in nature. These complaints must be handled evenly and on sympathetic grounds. As a part of the investigation procedure, complaint will be presented to the same sex and they also consider the confidentiality of the case. (Gloria, n.d) The basic steps involved in investigating such harassment claims are- 1. Having polices prohibiting harassment at workplace 2. Investigation of the harassment 3. Collection of information regarding the complaint 4. resolving the complaint 5. appropriate disciplinary action to be taken 6. follow up with the victim 1. Having policies prohibiting harassment at workplace The employer should have written polices on anti-harassment that will encourage the employee to notify the necessary people in case they fall as a victim to such hostile work environment so that necessary actions can be taken. The policies should also state that the repercussions on such incidents will be dealt severely. The supervisors and the managers must also be briefed that harassment in any form will not be tolerated and the employees should also be made aware of the grievance procedure. The policies must specify that any form of harassment is illegal and specifically also note what conduct is prohibited by law. (Gloria, n.d) 2. Promptly investigate claims of sexual harassment It is very important that any harassment complaint is well investigated, scrutinized, commenced and resolved as soon as they receive such complaint. The investigators should speak to both the parties involved as it is essential to consider the employer’s version of the complaint. The investigators must be fair, honest and a neutral party who are unbiased. The complaint can be investigated by the Human resource department or by the Legal counsel. It is also very essential for documenting the complaint and the basis of the decision or conclusion should be recorded. It is also recommended to take legal consultation in such cases. The first essential step is for the 2 management personnel should talk to the victim so that there is also an additional witness. The victim will be asked to sign a statement underlying and clearly describing the events and the facts of harassment. The statement should have the date when the complaint was lodged and the date of the meeting with the victim as the promptness will have an impact on the employer’s liability. The supporting documentation and proof should also be submitted to the investigators. The second interview will be with the harasser as it is also important that the harasser is also well informed on the proof so that he is made aware of what he is being accused for. The harasser has every right to deny the accusations and this should also be well documented as a part of the investigation. (Gloria, n.d) 3. Information Collection from both the parties The witnesses for both the parties will also be interviewed and questioned. If there are no witnesses for the complaint, the employer should meet the other employees and determine if the behavior has been similar to other employees. This information will assist the investigators in determining the credibility of the parties involved and also determine the severity of the conduct. The employer needs to ensure that the proceedings need to be investigated and resolved as quickly as possible. (Gloria, n.d) 4. Resolution of the complaint Before deciding the action to be taken, the employer needs to assess the severity of the conduct and also determine the nature of the complaint. The employer need to properly document the exact reasons on the decision taken as the promptness, evaluation, reasonableness determine the potential liability of the employer on such harassment cases. If the complaint lodged is substantiated, immediate disciplinary action will be taken against the harasser. The intensity of disciplinary action taken can vary from a warning letter or even termination. If the decision is to separate the harasser and the victim is taken, the harasser will be asked to transfer and if the parties are not separated, the damages of the victim can increase to a great extent. If the complaint is not backed with enough evidences, it is not appropriate to take any action on the harasser. The warning must be given to the alleged harasser and this should be documented. (Gloria, n.d) 5. Appropriate disciplinary action The severity of the action will depend on the past records of the harasser. If the harasser has a good record and the complaint is very minor in nature, the severity of the action may be very minimal in nature. The disciplinary action may also prevent the employer from being liable for the harassment claims (Gloria, n.d) 6. Follow up with the victim The employer need to have a follow up meeting with the victim to determine if the inappropriate behavior or action has stopped and also to determine if any related incidents have been initiated against other related parties. The employer should also meet with the coworkers to ascertain whether the inappropriate activities have continued to the original victim or with any other person. The follow up meetings should also be well documented. (Gloria, n.d) Workplace and employment retaliation Retaliations are generally referred as- Workplace retaliation Employer retaliation Employment retaliation Whistleblower retaliation The first 3 types of retaliations are a form of employment retaliation and are prohibited by law when the employees exercise duties. For example when the employer does not pay salary for which all employees are primarily eligible for under the labor act, that particular employee has the right to report to the labor department. In this case, the employer cannot argue on the basis of discrimination in the workplace and they are punishable under the labor law. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other labor laws have employment retaliation provisions for the employee’s in order to safeguard their rights. Whistleblower retaliation refers to protecting the employees from retaliating from “blowing the whistle” on their employers when the employees suspect that there are some illegal malicious activities engaged by the employer in the work premises. Whistleblower protection ensures that the employers cannot retaliate against the whistleblowers. The employers do not have the right to fire, demote, suspend, threaten or harass an employee who has exercised the retaliation rights under laws that have whistleblower provisions attached to it. This protection was in place to encourage people to report any illegal activities carried out by the employer and this is also in force to protect the safety of the people. In case the employers retaliates the employee although that is not allowed, the law provides provisions to provide relief to the victim in the form of monetary funds, job reinstatement and compensatory benefits for the victims. The law makes it illegal for the employers to retaliate against the employees Those who report the employers violation on the whistleblower law if the employer has trespassed the law Those who participate in the legal prosecution under the whistleblower act The employees can be entitled to the retaliation protection act must report alleged violations to the government authorities and should not refrain from reporting this to the company. (Workplace and Employment Retaliation, n.d) What is not considered harassment? The following situations can not be considered as harassment in workplace such as Situation that involve disciplinary actions of the workforce In the academic environment, any discussion, debate, free discussion study on controversial topics including those which are offensive to some section of the society Mutual expression of affection and love and mutual consensual relationship Light hearted jokes, flirting which are harmless in nature and not deliberate and is also welcomed and encouraged by the recipient If a person has been asked to voice their opinion on a certain issue or topic Any practices which are permitted by law or contract and the actions are reasonable and bona fide in the circumstances Appropriate criticism on academic or work related to the recipient even though the student or the employee disagrees with the assessment or grading. , (What is not Harassment, n.d) CONCLUSION The employees have the right to work in an environment free from any kind of harassment. Employers are responsible in ensuring the employees are safe. The victim has also have every right to ask the employer, union or take legal counseling to take necessary course of action against workplace harassment. The local government should also have legal protection in place to protect people from any form of workplace harassment. This is very important as some companies do not have a well defined and structured procedure in dealing with such complaints. Literary References Definition of workplace Harassment (2010) James Crooke University, retrieved 9th April from the website: http://www.jcu.edu.au/eo/JCUDEV_013614.html Gloria J. Myers, suggestions for dealing with sexual harassment claims, retrieved 9th April from website http://all.net/games/sex/harass1.html Oregon Health & Science University (2008) Quid Pro Quo Harassment, retrieved 8th April from the website http://www.ohsu.edu/aaeo/investigation/quid_pro_quo.html Types of Harassment and Bullying, retrieved 9th April from website: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/personnel/harassmentandb/types.htm University of Regina, What is not Harassment, retrieved 8th April from the website: http://www.uregina.ca/hr/hdpo/understanding-and-recognizing/what-is-harassment/what-is-not-harassment Understanding Workplace Harassment (2008), retrieved 9th April from Federal Communication Commission website: http://www.fcc.gov/owd/understanding-harassment.html Workplace and Employment Retaliation, retrieved 9th April from Employee Issues website: http://employeeissues.com/i_retaliation.htm Read More