Some recent high profile cases, both local and national, have focused attention on illegal harassment in the workplace. Most of this recent focus has been on sex harassment. However, it is important for employers to prohibit harassment based on any protected status, not just sex harassment.
The national discussion on race relations has found its way into the court system. Employers have been sued because co-workers are alleged to have created a hostile and intimidating environment based on race. Racial harassment can take many forms. Racially-based jokes, epithets, and pictures can all contribute to a hostile environment. Symbols such as the confederate flag, reference to the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups can also add to a serious problem.
Illegal harassment can be based on an employee's ethnic background, age or physical disability. The growing diversity of the American workforce is adding pressure on employers to create policies and practices which encourage acceptance and discourage hostility. Accordingly, an employer should consider a number of steps to reduce the risk of workplace harassment.
The employer's current harassment policy should be reviewed to confirm that it is broad enough to encompass all forms of illegal harassment. (Many company policies still cover only sex harassment.) Existing policies should be rewritten or new policies adopted to expand the scope of the harassment policy. The employer should state a clear "zero-tolerance" for illegal harassment of any kind. The employer also should have a clear statement regarding equal employment opportunity.
In addition, it is important for the employer to have a mechanism by which complaints of harassment can be investigated and dealt with promptly. If employees do not believe that there is an internal course for resolution, they may seek an external mechanism, which can include litigation and agency complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. The resulting negative publicity that often accompanies harassment claims can be very destructive.
Employers also should consider training for supervisors and managers to prepare them to handle diversity issues, to recognize potential problems and to deal with them promptly.
If employees are represented by a union, it may be useful to enlist the union's cooperation to develop joint statements on harassment. Unions increasingly have become the target of lawsuits for failure to adequately represent union members who are the victims of workplace harassment. A clear message from the company and the union that illegal harassment will not be tolerated may help to foster a "zero tolerance" environment.
In the end, there is no substitute for vigilance. An employer must be willing to react swiftly to a complaint of harassment. A head-in-the-sand approach seldom succeeds. A prompt investigation with appropriate remedial action can help an employer avoid liability.
Workplace tensions caused by differences of race, sex and other characteristics are not new. However, our increasingly diverse community mandates that we learn to deal with these differences. For many people, the workplace will offer
the greatest exposure to people of differing race, religion, or ethnic background. Employers will continue to face increasing pressures to help employees learn to work harmoniously with one other. Failure to plan may prove to be an expensive error in judgment.