I am a manager of 28 medical professionals at a large institution going on two years now. During my tenure, staff retention and moral have sky rocketed. My style has always been to gain respect through knowlege and compassion, rather than intimidation. I have always received glowing peer and performance reviews, and my record is spotless. That is in contrast to my bosses style, which is to rule with an iron fist. This has always bothered her in my view, but she tolerates me because I’ve made her look good on many occasion.
During a discussion I had with her yesterday, my boss informed me that two of my female staff members approached her and asked to see the hospital’s sexual harrassment policy. I asked her to be specific about the nature of the complaint and the identity of my accusers. She told me that it involved conversations I had with two male staff members and she could not identify my accusers because an investigation is ongoing. The only two female staff members that were at work at that time had filed a grievance (a first for me) with our labor union over a minor scheduling issue a few weeks back and their claim was denied, however they remain very angry.
I told my boss about my suspicions and why. I sent her a memo outlining my recollection of our conversation, including my suspicions, and asked her to place that in my file. She returned it to me stating that there was no real complaint of sexual harrassment, a lie, but that my accusers were merely made to feel uncomfortable. FTR, I consider myself a gentleman and would never engage in “boy talk” in the presence of ladies.
Should I insist that that memo be placed in my file? Has anyone here ever been in a similar situation? Who has the burden of proof in a case like this? I’ve already decided to quit, but I will collect a sizable bonus if I stay on through the fiscal year. Is there recourse for the victim of a false sexual harassment complaint?
I am counting on the wisdom of The Teeming Millions to guide me through this storm.
Why don’t you consult a lawyer, E72521? I’m sure you’ll get advice here, but no one who’s qualified to help you with the law is actually going to tell you what to do over a message board. Considering that this is an issue of some importance, you shouldn’t rely on SDMB.
You should insist that your company do a full and thorough investigation.
This is the one area where things go wrong: the company does not perform a thorough investigation by researching, conducting interviews and checking and following up.
And, it is possible and common to do things that aren’t ‘appropriate’ according to a guide, but that does not constitute sexual harrasment.
Even casual research on the web will help you understand what sexual harrassment REALLY is.
simple example:
If I leaned over a women’s work station and in doing so I was leaning on her shoulder and it made her uncomfortable, and she complained later, I am not a sexual harrasser. if I did it to two women in the same day and the both complained, still a non issue.
I disagree. You might not need to hire a full-time expensive consultant lawyer to hover about the proceedings fulltime, but IMHO you would be wise to at least have a one-time meet with a lawyer and get his advice. Few people on this list are qualified enough to give you an answer, and most of them will say Consult a Lawyer.
After all, you’re in a situtation where your career could conceivable be ruined. The stakes are high enough to warrant some extra prudence.
Consider yourself lucky that your boss returned the memo. NEVER commit anything to paper before you have to. Don’t give your employer ammunition to use against you. I concur that you should pop for a consultation with an attorney knowledgable in civil rights law, because if this progresses you could find yourself in serious trouble.
Your boss is also handling this completely wrong. She should not be discussing ongoing investigations with you unless it is in the context of the investigation. This complaint may be bogus, but it should still be handled properly because the next complaint might not be and employees need to know that complaints will be handled appropriately.
The reason I wrote the memo was to establish the fact that My boss did in fact reveal to me that there is an investigation ongoing and to establish the fact that I identified two individuals who had a motive to do this to me before their identities were revealed to me.
I see where I may have jumped the gun, and I will keep my silence from here on. Thanks for the good advice.
E72521, sigh, I really wasn’t going to answer this.
I’m male. And twice I’ve considered going to the company officials and making a statement about sexual harrassment against me. My concerns were quite legitimate, for example, female bosses telling me their husband was out of town, and it would be a good time to “see their place”.
I strongly recommend against letting your situation get any more formalized than it is. Find out who’s attacking you politically. Put some feelers out to determine people who are generally honest, but at the moment don’t have your side of the story. Appeal to them on a personal level. Express your feelings. Explain that you are upset. Ask for sympathy. Be SINCERE (you don’t have to bare your soul). This is a good time to be humble, and LISTEN to what people are telling you.
If you’re lucky, and you might well be, the “case” against you will begin to crumble when people realize not everyone agrees.
If you aren’t lucky, being humble and honest will still probably win you though. (Consult a lawyer who’s had much previous experience in this, but do not listen to absolutely everything they say. Think your way out of this.)
Oh, and offer suggestions and ask opinions, particularly to people who don’t seem to be centrally involved, about what might be done to make everyone feel more comfortable in their office environment. This is my reason: there may very well be scheming, even lying, people hatching this plot. But when you present your case to everyone, personally, the burden of the plotters shifts from attacking you, to convincing co-workers who’ve suddenly decided the situation isn’t entirely clear.
I have a friend currently dealing with a sexual harrasment issue at work (she filed the claim against another woman, and I believe her to be truthful). All I can say is, hope nothing comes of this. She has been dealing with weeks of stress because the woman she accused denied she said the things she allegedly said, and threw some untrue accusations back at my friend. It’s now a pretty ugly she-said/she-said sort of situation, and I can definitely see why so many sexual harrasment cases go unreported (so I’ve heard the statistics say). Even if things work out in my friend’s favor, it would be incrediably dificult for her to go back to her same job. She’s basically got to start over somewhere else, just because she called someone on some inappropriate behavior.
first of all your “accusers” may not be female as you are assuming. It could have been something you said about homosexuality, marriage or who knows what. Or it may have been an expression of chauvinism that may not have been in the presence of any woman but may have gotten back to one of them. An opinion or something that may not have been appropriate regardless of whether the subject was present during the comment.
Yes, it does. Thank you for remembering. IMHO experience the people who one has to get on one’s side in a matter like this… well… confrontation of the facts is the LAST thing they have in mind. They’re interested in informal channels of accusation. In humble, and private displays of apology.
In a court of law, yes. This matter appears to have gone no further than the office’s personnel department, which probably doesn’t have offer such a guarantee at this stage of the investigation.
partly_warmer, I was directed not to discuss this with anyone at work.
handy, great idea. I’m calling them this morning.
Eonwe, I sympathize for any victim of sexual harassment. Right now, I’m being set up by at least one of two disgruntled employees that are using my boss and the plight of sexual harrassment victims to screw me. These people are going to be held accountable for this.
Thanks to all who answered for your interest and advice!
It so happens that my boss and one of the suspected accusers are openly gay. And they are openly friendly. It is a well known and established belief. It is also a widely held belief that the boss is a heterophobe.
I’m about as libereal as you can get. It is not my style to critique alternative lifestyles. However, I wonder if playing on the other team is working against me?
On the assumption you’re being set up, you had best consult with a lawyer ASAP specializing in this sort of thing as to how best protect yourself. Harassment complaint systems are generally set up to favor the complainer. You need to CYA and not trust in the adminstration’s fair play instincts. Their main job is to protect themselves, not you, and if jettisoning you will make a potential lawsuit threat “go away” that is not out of the realm of consideration.
If you were “directed” by someone from the human resources department not to discuss this, contact a lawyer. If you don’t already have one in mind, contact three, and ask them how they’d respond to the situation. You need more than one, because different lawyers have different strengths, different experiences.
Write down every detail of the conversation and the circumstances of the person who gave you this direction: What you said, what they said, what you said that led them to tell you not to talk with anyone else, what you answered. How you felt. What you think they were trying to say. The whole works. Write it by hand, or have the computer printout notarized.
On the surface, of course, just keep doing your job. And definitely try and figure out who’s on your side and who’s not. All the other things I suggested, just be quite reserved in what you say.
Do you have any friends in higher management?
I don’t have personal experience with them, but I think a call to the ACLU might be in order, too.