How to Deal With False Claims of a Hostile Work Environment
If an employee claims that your business has a hostile work environment, it can be daunting to discern the best course of action. Even if the allegations aren't true, sorting out the issue may be difficult. Every situation that arises among your employees while they're on the clock is ultimately a company issue. Even if the problem is personal rather than work-related, it's still the employer's responsibility to handle it.
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Instructions
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Avoid any behavior that could be considered harassment. If you, as a manager, witness this type of behavior, put an end to it immediately with appropriate disciplinary action. Keep a log of all situations along these lines and how you responded to them.
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Report any violations of your company's harassment policy to the human resources department. You may not be able to prevent every hostile act in the workplace, but you can follow the correct procedures and make sure that the right departments are notified. This will cover you in case the situation escalates.
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Present your harassment policy to the court, if the case goes that far. This policy should cover all types of harassment that an employee could potentially face. Aside from defining certain types of harassment, the policy also needs to specify to whom employees should report incidents. Often, suits are dismissed when a company can document its harassment policy; this shows that the company and the manager hold employees accountable for harassing behaviors.
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Tips & Warnings
A hostile work environment may include a space where an employee is verbally abused by co-workers or managers. Inappropriate gestures and jokes are also signs of a hostile environment. Even openly and obviously avoiding contact with an employee can be considered hostile.
If you find out that an employee was less than honest on his resume, this does not automatically invalidate his claim of a hostile work environment.
Harassment can occur even when it's not intended, such as commenting on appearance, drawing cartoons, making jokes or assigning nicknames to co-workers or employees.
References
- Photo Credit business woman talk to cell phone on business building image by Anatoly Tiplyashin from Fotolia.com
