A pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings on sexual harassment opened up a Pandora's box of confusion for corporate America: What must companies do to avoid liability in harassment lawsuits?
The decisions reaffirmed that an employee who rebuffs a boss's advances can pursue a sexual harassment suit even if she or he suffers no job setbacks. However, the decisions said, employers may defend themselves in such cases if they "exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior." At the same time, the high court ruled that an aggrieved employee must have "unreasonably failed to take advantage of any protective or corrective opportunities,"(for employers to effectively deffend against a harassment lawsuit).
The rulings did not offer businesses guidance about what constitutes an adequate antiharassment policy or complaint procedure.
What can employers do to help defend themselves against sexual harassment lawsuits?
Here are some tips from Kahn and Reiter:
Tailor a sexual-harassment policy to your business and fill it with real-life examples.
Require every employee, CEO's included, to periodically undergo customized training on sexual-harassment awareness.
Spell out what internal resources victims have. Promise them that you will use an outside investigator if needed.
Assess employees' familiarity wth corporate sexual-harassment policies and complaint procedures.
Contact Kahn & Reiter to learn what your company must do to limit liability in sexual harassment lawsuits.
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