As an HR consultant who investigates and trains employees on sexual harassment issues, I keep a Google Alert for new “sexual harassment” articles that hit the web. In the past, this usually resulted in three to four notifications a week. Since mid-November, I’m getting emails regarding 8 to 10 new reports A DAY. I can’t keep up with all the stories. Police departments, schools, restaurants, rec centers, even a Dairy Queen in NC – all getting slapped with harassment lawsuits. And it isn’t just relegated to the U.S. – reports are popping up from across the globe from Italy to India.
So what happened? The Herman Cain and Penn State stories collided in the internet ether and caused a re-emergence of an issue that had been lying dormant.
Most of us had learned of this issue in 1991 during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings. A brave lady by the name of Anita Hill came forward and issued testimony regarding now Justice Thomas’s antics in chambers with his staff. Questions began to surface regarding what was appropriate in the workplace. Family newspapers actually printed the word “pubic” for the first time as we learned that the courts looked at a “reasonable person standard” to determine if certain conversations would be considered “sexual in nature” by reasonable people. Everyone discussed whether Thomas’s discussion of that hair on the soda can would be considered “sexual.” So we talked about it, laughed about it, Thomas made it to the Supreme Court anyway, and we started dozing off.
Then, in 1998, we were jolted by two cases before the Supreme Court (yes, Thomas was sitting right there). Combined, these cases became known as the Ellerth Faragher defense, or the Affirmative Defense, for employers. In my non-attorney layman’s terms, the cases basically led to the recommendation to employers to start getting their act together to prevent sexual harassment (and other forms of illegal harassment, too, for that matter): (1) Write a policy (2)Don’t hide it and let it gather dust – actually TRAIN employees – that means managers and non-managers – what it means. (3) Make sure that everyone knows what to do if there is a complaint – where to go, what to say (4) Start an investigation promptly, separating the parties when necessary to make sure that the harassment stops immediately and (5)After the investigation, take the necessary corrective action. Then, in the event of a lawsuit, that employer can come forward and say, “But your Honor, we did everything we could to make sure that there was no sexual harassment in our facility. If the complaining party didn’t come forward – how could we know this existed?” So, MANY (unfortunately, not all) employers got their I’s dotted, t’s crossed, trained staff…… and fell back to sleep.
Over time, the line we drew in the sand started slipping. People were just happy to have a job and didn’t want to make waves. Training money was scarce, so we didn’t always do our annual training. New managers came forward and weren’t trained, old ones forgot. Yawn….
Then the Herman Cain allegations came up and at the same time we felt the jolt of the Penn State molestation claims. The alarm bells are ringing again. Those who feel they have been harassed suddenly remembered they have a right to work in a place free from sexual harassment. Now managers and HR professionals are running around fighting off the fires of new claims. Lawyers are smiling. Policies are being reviewed and rewritten. The WORLD is outraged.
Can we please make sure that we don’t fall asleep again this time?
