Preventing Sexual Harassment

How to Minimize Organizational Risk

Sexual Harassment Training is Essential to Your Defense

Some states legislatures have mandated it. More than one-half of all state legislatures have addressed it.

Most notably, the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that employers that train managers on sexual harassment prevention can take advantage of certain affirmative defenses to limit their liability should a lawsuit arise. This defense is further strengthened when harassment prevention training is extended to include employees working side-by-side in the workplace.

Sexual harassment is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a form of discrimination on the basis of gender. It’s illegal – and the cost is high should you or your organization be found guilty. This two-part training course is designed to meet state mandated training requirements and provides both employees and management with a clear understanding of what legally constitutes harassment, what to do if it occurs, and how to swiftly investigate and manage the sexual harassment complaint.

Who Should Attend?

Part one of this two-part training course is targeted to all employees. Part two is a Management Update developed specifically for managers and supervisors responsible taking action to prevent or minimize sexual harassment in the workplace.

Course Benefits

· Reduce organizational risk and mitigate the cost of lawsuits and fines from regulatory agencies.

· Increase teamwork, productivity and improve morale.

· Provide a safe and healthy work environment for all employees.

· Protect your organization’s reputation.

· Improve communications to ensure more productive employee relationships

· Minimize organizational and personal liability for unlawful sexual harassment actions.

Course Objectives

Successful completion of this course will increase employee knowledge and ability to:

· Define, based on legal definitions, what behaviors the courts and the EEOC consider to be sexual harassment or discrimination.

· Identify and define employee rights to and the employer’s responsibility to provide a harassment-free workplace.

· Recognize and understand how sexual harassment harms the victim, the harasser and the organization.

· Identify and avoid behavior that crosses the line, becomes “unreasonable” and is considered sexual harassment.

· Assess and reduce the risk factors for quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment.

· Follow organizational and legislative guidelines and report sexual harassment if witness to or a victim of sexual harassment.

Successful completion of this course will increase management knowledge and ability to:

· Discuss, identify and apply federal and state discrimination and harassment laws to your workplace.

· Recognize the warning signs typically displayed by victims of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment and quickly put an end to harassing or inappropriate behavior.

· Differentiate and respond appropriately to behavior that constitutes sexual harassment and behavior simply in poor taste.

· Assess practical examples of sexual harassment and determine how to prevent incidents of harassment, discrimination or retaliation before they occur.

· Recognize and make available legally-required remedies and protections to victims of sexual harassment.

· Safely and legally investigate sexual harassment complaints without violating employee privacy rights.

· Identify and take the appropriate course of action when sexual harassment occurs.

Program Agenda

Delivery Options

This modular course can be delivered as either a full-day or half-day of employee-focused training and as a full or half-day management update meeting state mandated training requirements for managers and supervisors in most states.

Core Competencies

· Sexual harassment prevention

· Cultural and diversity awareness

· Interpersonal and communication skills

· Conflict management

· Leadership and people management skills

Course Methodology

· Facilitative lecture

· Personal assessments

· Individual reflective review

· Direct application, case studies and role plays

· Interactive group and partner activities

· Group discussion

Sexual Harassment: Clarify the facts

· Understand the startling facts surrounding sexual harassment in the workplace and avoid becoming another statistic

· Identify how the EEOC defines sexual harassment

· Apply state guidelines to the definition of sexual harassment in the workplace

· Recognize the impact of sexual harassment on the victim, the harasser, and the organization

· Understand the financial and hard-to-measure costs of harassment in the workplace

Identify the Problem

· Spot and minimize the types of harassment most likely to occur in the workplace

· Understand, based on the legal definition of sexual harassment, the differences between acceptable behavior and that which is harassment

· Define what quid pro quo and a hostile work environment are and how both can create harassing and discriminatory situations

· Is it just in bad taste or harassment? Learn the difference between sexual conduct that may be inappropriate and that which is harassing.

· Understand and apply the reasonable person standard to determine whether a hostile work environment exists

· Develop sensitivity and avoid behaviors that could be construed as sexual harassment

· Avoid unintentional harassment

· How to defuse disrespectful or harassing situations

Assertively Take Control

· Assume responsibility and learn how to assertively communicate your feelings and put sexual harassers on notice

· Practical jokes, games and innuendoes that can lead to discrimination or sexual harassment

· How to file a sexual harassment complaint following organizational, state, and federal guidelines

· Respond appropriately when a sexual harassment complaint has been filed against you

· What to do if you are witness to or become a victim to harassing behavior

· Identify how sexual advances and propositions can result in sexual harassment

Management Update

· Understand employer responsibilities and employee rights regarding harassing behavior in the workplace

· Identify and eliminate harassment situations that can be considered “severe” and “pervasive”

· Recognize characteristics of the typical harassment victim and take steps to remedy the situation immediately

· Develop an internal complaint process that provides protection for both employees and the organization

· How to handle the sexual harassment complaint quietly and professionally

· Create anti-harassment policies and procedures that clearly spell out the organization’s position and put would-be harassers on notice

· The do’s and don’ts to conducting an internal sexual harassment complaint investigation

· How to use role plays, case studies, and other training situations to increase employee awareness to gender, racial, and religious diversity

· Understand and provide employee protection from retaliation for filing a harassment complaint

· Key steps that must be taken in every internal investigation

· How to safely conduct an internal investigation without compromising employee privacy rights

· Why you can never promise confidentiality to an employee filing a sexual harassment complaint

· Questioning strategies to use when interviewing alleged victims, harassers, and witnesses

· Why a Zero Tolerance policy is critical to minimizing your organization’s legal liability

· When to discipline and when to terminate those found guilty of sexual harassment

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