I’m glad victims are being empowered to speak up, but there was a concern about abusing these zero tolerance policies before and now I’m afraid it will get worse. I think we FIRST need a more narrow definition of sexual harassment. This subjective standard making someone guilty because someone “feels” harassed, in a society of growing oversensitivity, is dangerous. Even before women joined the workforce, male employees were subjected to uncomfortable situations and still are. Just because it may or may not have been sexual doesn’t make it better or worse. The free market addresses this through competition for labor. If you are good at what you do, you can choose who you work for, and if no one who’s any good wants to work for you it’ll be tough to stay in business. That doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye. It means not everyone who feels uncomfortable deserves the benefit of state action or even a “guilty until proven innocent” HR department terrified of lawsuits. Narrowly define what we are talking about and strictly enforce it, then I have no problem. I might even support #Metoo at that point. Lumping together people with legitimate grievances and oversensitive whiners into a single group of “victims” with the media playing the role of prosecutor and judge to a 324M person jury has to stop so true victims have a shot at true justice. Victims credibility is being attacked by those pointing to the whiners and liars. Whiners and liars are being emboldened by true victims. The only way to stop it is to draw a line in the sand. “These people” are victims who deserve justice and “those people” need to shut up.
HR Managers would be well advised to have another person in the room when they meet with accusers alleging sexual harassment or any form of harassment.
Prompt positive response of care and concern is now demanded by Corporate GCs! Take no complaint as this will wait. Document and always have a second non involved corporate employee when interviewing both parties.
I’m glad victims are being empowered to speak up, but there was a concern about abusing these zero tolerance policies before and now I’m afraid it will get worse. I think we FIRST need a more narrow definition of sexual harassment. This subjective standard making someone guilty because someone “feels” harassed, in a society of growing oversensitivity, is dangerous. Even before women joined the workforce, male employees were subjected to uncomfortable situations and still are. Just because it may or may not have been sexual doesn’t make it better or worse. The free market addresses this through competition for labor. If you are good at what you do, you can choose who you work for, and if no one who’s any good wants to work for you it’ll be tough to stay in business. That doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye. It means not everyone who feels uncomfortable deserves the benefit of state action or even a “guilty until proven innocent” HR department terrified of lawsuits. Narrowly define what we are talking about and strictly enforce it, then I have no problem. I might even support #Metoo at that point. Lumping together people with legitimate grievances and oversensitive whiners into a single group of “victims” with the media playing the role of prosecutor and judge to a 324M person jury has to stop so true victims have a shot at true justice. Victims credibility is being attacked by those pointing to the whiners and liars. Whiners and liars are being emboldened by true victims. The only way to stop it is to draw a line in the sand. “These people” are victims who deserve justice and “those people” need to shut up.
HR Managers will show their worth in the next few years. Do a good job in vetting the accusations.
HR Managers would be well advised to have another person in the room when they meet with accusers alleging sexual harassment or any form of harassment.
A defense attorney.
Prompt positive response of care and concern is now demanded by Corporate GCs! Take no complaint as this will wait. Document and always have a second non involved corporate employee when interviewing both parties.