Sexual Harassment: Draw the Line

Course Description:

Sexual harassment is not simply a knowledge problem…it’s a behavior problem—one that is pervasive in the modern workplace. This course focuses on employees’ responsibilities relative to preventing and dealing with sexual harassment in their workplace. By the end of the course, employees, supervisors and managers should be able to recognize sexual harassment in the workplace, understand their responsibility to report it, and what they can do to prevent it from happening.

Check out the video below to watch a few sample scenes from the course.

Why “Sexual Harassment: Draw the Line” Matters:

Some states have laws requiring employees to receive sexual harassment training and some don’t, but all employers must ensure that they uphold the law in regard to providing a workplace free from harassment of any kind if they want to avoid costly law suits. To do that, employers need employees to report sexual harassment as soon as they know that it has taken place or is taking place currently, whether it has happened to them, or to someone else. Once a complaint or report has been made, HR can take steps to investigate claims, take action to stop any harassment, and prevent it from happening in the future.  Employees must understand their obligation to themselves, their fellow workers, and the employer in helping to maintain a harassment-free workplace.

Key Points:

Report harassment immediately following the company’s complaint procedures. Complaints will be investigated and steps taken to ensure the harassment stops. Retaliation will not be tolerated. Workplace harassers aren’t always supervisors, coworkers, or other employees of the same company. They may be vendors, customers, patients, independent contractors, or other third parties who have relationships with your employer. Employees are responsible for their workplace behavior when representing your employer, even when in a workplace that’s not their own. Gender-based harassment is a form of sexual harassment.   Sexual harassment is always wrong, but quid pro quo harassment is even more damaging to both the employee and the company because the harasser is in a position of power over the employment conditions of the employee who’s being harassed. Excessive flirting, suggestive comments, and unwelcome touching are inappropriate and created a hostile work environment.