Sexual Harassment

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Preventing Sexual Harassment Lawsuits

by Barbara Kate Repa

Employees who are sexually harassed on the job often become distressed, depressed, frightened, and angry--or some combination of these. It is not easy to hold a job while also working full time to keep a harasser at bay. And the challenge often takes its toll. Sexually harassed workers often become demoralized and miss work, and even while on the job they are much less able to concentrate and to work efficiently.

All of this runs counter to nearly every employer's prime goal: workplace productivity. A number of recent studies of women who claim they were harassed on the job show the high cost to employers of tolerating it:

Over 25% of women who are sexually harassed use leave time to avoid the uncomfortable work situation.
At least 15% of women who are harassed in the workplace quit their jobs because of it.
Nearly 50% of those harassed try to ignore it-and end up suffering about a 10% drop in productivity.
The harassed woman's peers who know of the situation also suffer a 2% drop in productivity.

But perhaps money talks most loudly and chillingly: Ignoring sexual harassment can cost the average company up to $6.7 million a year in absenteeism, employee turnover, low morale, and low productivity, according to recent workplace studies.

In addition to these indirect costs an employer who tolerates sexual harassment risks the high administrative costs involved in EEOC and other agency complaint investigations, as well as the pricey possibility of a successful lawsuit against the company. Harder to quantify-but perhaps most damaging-can be the sullying of the company name and losing goodwill if the charges go public.

Since many employers hire expensive lawyers at the first scent of legal trouble, the costs of defending a sexual harassment lawsuit are extremely high. And of course, if the harassed employee wins, costs to the employer will be even higher-sometimes sky higher. Several employers have been hard hit with jury verdicts ranging into several million dollars for emotional distress, lost wages, and wrongful discharge.

Benefits To Employees

Despite some paranoid perceptions, very few workers who bring complaints about sexual harassment on the job are seeking big bucks or vengeance. Their goal, at least initially, is to make the harassment stop-and to take all practicable steps to see that it stays stopped. It is typically only when an employer offers no fair way to resolve the problem--or at least get it fully aired--that sexual harassment complaints evolve into lawsuits.

Article Topics Include:

Reporting instructions
Protect against retaliation
Sexual Harassment Policy
Prohibited Behavior
Harassment By Others
Discipline
Retaliation
Complaint Procedure and Investigation
Training
Complaint Procedures