Question: Do you have to tell your customers you are sexual harassers? Yup, you might have to. Shocking, right?
In
a startling court order, a judge required a company to inform their
customers about their sexual harassment verdict against them for over
$1 million. (EEOC v. Custom Cos. No. 2 C 3768, N.D.Ill. 3/8/07).
In a 50-page opinion, the court characterized the company’s behavior as
“reprehensible” based on a “sexually charged atmosphere” of touching,
sexual advances, sexually explicit comments and jokes.
What does this new ruling mean to you?
“Make
no mistake about it, this is a big decision--it’s really important,”
stated John Hendrickson the EEOC’s regional attorney in Chicago. That
means it is big news. The EEOC likes it. Other judges may just decide
to use the same tactic when punishing employers in harassment cases.
That’s bad news because you want to announce to customers growth and “vision” ... not “verdicts.”
While
this court cut the original jury verdict of $2.3 million in half, it
also put a chokehold on the company by granting the bulk of the
plaintiffs’ requests for nine non-monetary measures against the
company. The company will be on the court’s closely watched radar
screen for the next four years. Translation, a long, long, long, long
time.
Some of the items on the company’s new long “To-Do-Or-Get-In-More-Legal-Trouble-List” include:
- Provide
a notice to all customers advising them of the jury verdict and
reaffirming the company’s commitment to equal employment opportunity in
the workplace.
- Post a notice informing its employees of the
verdict and injunction in this suit and of the employees’ right to
contact the EEOC without fear of retaliation;
- Provide the EEOC
notice (including a description of the complaint, the investigation
conducted, and the result) of any complaint of sexual harassment or
retaliation within thirty days from the date the complaint was made;
- Report to the EEOC every six months all complaints made and list all individuals terminated;
- Give
written confirmation to every employee that any complaint of harassment
or retaliation received by any manager will be taken seriously and
investigated;
- Require annual sexual harassment training of officers, managers, supervisors, and employees
- Expunge
from the Plaintiffs’ personnel files all references to this lawsuit or
the investigations of any complaints or charges of sexual harassment or
retaliation.
Lessons Learned ... Without Going to Court
- Train.
Look, you either train your workforce to prevent harassment,
discrimination and retaliation or you will be forced to by the courts
with a big splash of publicity attached. If money is the issues, this
case proves the point that it’s at least $1 million dollars cheaper to
train proactively.
- Train everyone.
That means, your officers, executives, managers, supervisors,
employees, sales force, part-time employees...you get the picture. It’s
hard to believe that some organizations still fear training their
non-supervisory employees for fear the knowledge will create a lawsuit.
These civil rights laws were passed in the last century. Everyone knows
about them.
- Train on your policy.
Make sure the training focuses on your specific policy including your
reporting procedure for reporting conduct inconsistent with the policy
and how to report retaliation. Often times, policies do not address how
to report retaliation and they should have that language.
- Check your reporting procedure.
Is it updated? Make sure it does not list people or positions that are
no longer with the organization. Are there alternative people to report
to for choices? Do you have a 24/7 Hotline? Think about getting one.
Still cheaper than $1 million plus litigation costs.
- Notice means awareness.
It is critical that when your managers, supervisors, executives are
aware of conduct inconsistent with your harassment prevention policy
that they immediately take prompt effective action to investigate and
take appropriate consequences.
- Enforce consequences. Write up violators. Discipline them. Fire them. Look what they do to your business and your brand.
Mindy Chapman, Esq., Mindy Chapman & Associates
