Sexual Harassment and Discrimination
A major concern in today’s business environment is the ability to conduct effective investigations into the sensitive claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. We can work with internal resources to help prevent and correct unwanted behaviors in the workplace.
Sexual harassment is defined as a form of discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Two general forms of sexual harassment exist: unwanted sexual contact and hostile work environments.
- Unwanted contact is intentional physical touching by an employee to another employee for sexual arousal or gratification
- A hostile work environment is one where an employee may comment on another employee’s appearance, make suggestive remarks, display sexually-suggestive photos in the workplace, use sexual language or make off-color jokes
The best approach to prevent and correct such unwanted behaviors include:
- The establishment and management of specific sexual harassment policies and training. This will help to protect employees and employers if a workplace investigation becomes necessary.
- Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment from occurring and to promptly correct any such behavior that has occurred.
- Effectively investigating harassment complaints and promptly intervening in the behavior are critical.
If you need to investigate, we can help:
- We conduct impartial, deep dive investigations considering both external and internal complexities.
- Our experienced team will learn and be respectful of the organizational culture, policies and procedures to better understand internal dynamics and the working environment.
- We work to gain the confidence and trust of those involved in these very sensitive situations.
- Our investigative experience provides us with the insights required to effectively conduct productive interviews.
- We provide an unbiased and external component to lend credibility and objectivity in often challenging investigations. We have access to experts in a number of fields which can sometimes be of assistance in certain sensitive areas of internal investigations.
Our approach is focused and effective:
- We listen
- We are respectful of both organizations and individuals
- We ask appropriate and relevant questions
- We don’t make assumptions or have preconceived ideas
- We are honest with our results and recommendations