WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Employer Obligations Regarding Workplace Sexual Harassment
Employers have an obligation to provide a healthy and safe workplace for all employees and workers—a commitment that extends to matters of workplace sexual harassment. According to a 2018 working life survey conducted by Statistics New Zealand, 14 percent of women and nine percent of men say they have experienced some form of harassment, discrimination or bullying at work. In recent years, as the #MeToo movement has grown around the world, hundreds of women (and some men) in New Zealand have come forward with stories about sexual harassment in the workplace. If anything, these trends and reports have indicated that many workplaces have problems that often go overlooked and unresolved. At PB Employment Law, we can work with your business to help you reckon with issues of sexual harassment in the office.
The Importance of Addressing Sexual Harassment at Work
Why is it so vital that all employers take active steps in preventing sexual harassment at work? If allowed to run rampant in a working environment, sexual harassment can damage an organisation in profound and often long-lasting ways. At PB Employment Law, we can work with you to put new workplace health and safety policies in place, including in the area of sexual harassment. Here are a few reasons why these policies—and vigorous enforcement of them—can make a big difference for your organisation in the long run:
It can prevent costly litigation. Employees who have been victims of sexual harassment in the workplace can (and often do) file lawsuits against their employers. Again, when a person takes a job, they do so with the implicit understanding that the employer will provide a safe working environment. If sexual harassment repeatedly happens under that employer’s watch—and especially if the employer is made aware of that problem and does not take steps to resolve it—an employee may have a case for negligence. Our business has provided sexual harassment legal advice to employers who have found themselves in these types of situations. However, the easier strategy, often, is to avoid the lawsuit ever happening—something that can be accomplished with better health and safety policies, including better investigation protocols in cases where employees report sexual harassment or other improper and offensive conduct.
It helps maintain a more robust company culture. Company culture has become something of a buzz term among employers in recent years, and for a good reason. Company culture refers to the behaviours, values, attitudes, work ethic and social atmosphere of an organisation. A company with strong culture typically boasts a happy, engaged workforce, with all employees working harmoniously towards a common aim. Any discord or strife in the workplace can damage company culture, which in turn can have a negative impact on office mood, worker engagement and employee retention. Taking a strong stand against sexual harassment at work is an integral part of building a robust company culture.
It can improve word of mouth for your business. These days, bad news travels fast in the business world. Sexual harassment cases can go public and damage a company’s brand with stakeholders, employees, customers, and prospective job applicants. Becoming known as an employer with a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment, meanwhile, can make an organisation more of a draw for qualified candidates as well as a business that customers want to support.
Related Services We Provide to Workplace Sexual Harassment
At PB Employment Law, we offer a variety of services to help businesses deal with sexual harassment issues at work or to assist organisations in preventing that type of toxic workplace culture from ever taking root. Here are a few of the ways in which our legal advocates often help employers reckon with sexual harassment in the office:
Consulting on health and safety policies. The first step in countering office sexual harassment is to have policies in your employee handbook spelling out inappropriate behaviours and establishing consequences for those behaviours. We consult with employers to help establish these policies.
Investigations. What if an employee comes forward with an allegation of sexual harassment against a fellow worker? As part of your sexual harassment policy, it is essential to outline channels workers can go through to report allegations, as well as investigative steps the organisation will take to assess the issue and discipline those who might have committed wrongdoing. We can assist with sketching out these policies and/or carrying out the investigations.
Offensive conduct legal advice. In cases where a sexual harassment claim at work builds into a lawsuit or legal battle, we can provide advice, assist with mediation or bargaining with the victim/plaintiff or offer other guidance to help you through the legal process.
About PB Employment Law
While we are not lawyers, our depth of knowledge regarding employment law—and our experience working closely with a wide variety of businesses—makes us an invaluable partner for matters of health and safety in the workplace. Contact us today to learn more.