In our Sexual Harassment Awareness training workshops your employees will learn and apply the important skills of handling sexual harassment issues and complaints. This hands on workshop thoroughly addresses the elements of how to prevent unacceptable behavior. The workshop includes a detailed overview of what sexual harassment is, explains legal definitions, discusses sexual harassment prevention, and shows how to handle sexual harassment complaints and maintain a positive work environment.
For more information about individual sexual harassment training workshops please complete this form. Once the form is received one of our consultants will provide you with a confidential proposal that will include a detailed description of the training workshop and the costs for conducting it.
Sexual Harassment Training:
Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Workshop
The Supreme Court on June 26,1998, made employers more liable for incidents of sexual harassment. Ruling on two sexual harassment cases, Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, and Burlington Industries Inc. v. Ellerth, the Supreme Court basically stated that the employer is responsible for the actions of the supervisor, even when the employer is unaware of the supervisor’s behavior. An employer can no longer claim that they did not know about the sexual harassment because the employee did not inform them, nor can they claim that they were unaware of the supervisor’s behavior.
The Supreme Court also stated that the court will no longer heavily rely on the two different forms of sexual harassment, “quid pro quo†and “hostile environment.†The Court called these two forms of sexual harassment of “limited utility†in assessing employer liability. As a result, an employee that refuses the unwelcome sexual harassment of a supervisor, and who suffers no adverse job consequences, can still bring a sexual harassment lawsuit against her employer if the employee can show they were discriminated by the sexual content. The employee will not necessarily be required to show a loss of advancement, retaliation, loss of income, or stress as they once did under “quid pro quo†and hostile-environment. They will need to show that the nature of the sexual content they experienced caused them to experience discrimination.
This means that even though the employer has a policy against sexual harassment and even when sexual harassment training is provided to their supervisors; they still can be held vicariously liable in cases where a supervisor uses sexual content to discriminate against an employee. The courts are now looking at what a "reasonable person" would determine to be sexual content that could cause discrimination versus the old standards of quid pro quo and hostile-environment. The Supreme Court did not throw out these standards, but will not rely on them as courts have in the past.
The Supreme Court created a two part test to be used by employers in defending themselves against a sexual harassment lawsuit.
1.) The employer needs to show that they took reasonable care to prevent and correct any sexual harassment behavior within their workplace.
2.) The employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.
Lower courts have even been apply vicarious liability and the two part test to determine employer responsibility in cases involving other forms of protected discrimination under Title VII. Deffenbaugh-Williams v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Fierro v. Saks Fifth Avenue.
If you are an employer, it is time to change how you deal with sexual harassment in your company. Currently at least 40% of all women report being sexually harassed at some point in their career, and men currently account for 11.6 % of all sexual harassment cases filed with the EEOC. So, the chances of your company needing to respond to a sexual harassment concern is great. Be prepared and you will likely deal with it successfully for all parties involved.
Source: Terry Fitzwater link
