Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
Sexual harassment prevention training can be a valuable tool for a business or institution to prevent lawsuits by clearly communicating to employees its policy on the subject. Effective sexual harassment training also should demonstrate what constitutes sexual harassment, role playing to enhance that understanding and explaining how to report sexual harassment complaints. The training should be done on a regular, if not annual, basis to update employees on the law, what behavior is within the law and what is out of bounds.
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History
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Sexual harassment in the workplace is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 1998 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court made employers more liable for sexual harassment incidents. According to Employer-Employee.com, the court stated that the employer is responsible for the actions of a supervisor, even if the employer is unaware of the supervisor’s behavior. This ruling makes sexual harassment training more valuable by giving alleged sexual harassment victims a safe and understood avenue to lodge a complaint. It also gives the employer a way to find out about such behavior and the ability to address it before it reaches the lawsuit stage.
Facts
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Sexual harassment training is often a function of a company’s human resources department. Small companies or businesses without a human resources department may give this duty to a supervisor who works directly with employees or hire a consultant or a firm that specializes in sexual harassment to conduct the training. The training should center on the two forms of sexual harassment. Those forms, according to sexualharass.com, are a quid pro quo, in which an employee is forced to submit to unwanted advances to keep a job or get favorable treatment from a supervisor; and a hostile work environment, which creates an intimidating and offensive workplace that interferes with the offended person’s work.
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Unacceptable Behavior
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Sexual harassment training would include discussions on numerous actions considered sexual harassment if shown to be unwanted or welcomed. These behaviors include physical contact (including touching, patting, rubbing up against someone), verbal sexual advances, suggestive or obscene notes (either written or electronic), repeated invitations after initial refusal, derogatory comments, sexual gestures, verbal abuse of a sexual nature, obscene or suggestive gifts, and frequent discussion of sexual acts.
Workshop
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A typical sexual harassment training workshop should including explanations of expected workplace behavior and what is not acceptable behavior and explanations of federal law, state law and company policy. These things can be done through small-group exercises, role playing and discussions. Numerous sexual harassment videos could be used to help explain sexual harassment.
Policy
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Before sexual harassment training begins, a company or institution should review its own policy of sexual harassment. If it does not have a policy on sexual harassment, it should develop one, first by reviewing policies of other companies and then tailoring a policy that fits its own specific needs.
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