Do Businesses REALLY Care About Sexual Harassment?

Maybe some do. Indisputably some do not. Even for those that do, or say that they do, care, why is it an issue? Is it because sexual harassment is wrong? Or is it merely because allowing it will get you sued? Consider for a moment that for most of the history of our nation, sexual harassment was perfectly legal, as was discrimination based on gender, race, religion, etc. Not enough people thought that it was wrong before it was made illegal, and in my opinion, many people still think it isn't wrong, and it's only the threat of legal action that prevents them from engaging in it. Let me give you an example from my own work history. For just shy of seventeen years I worked for a locally-owned business here in Lincoln. the company had a very clear policy prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, and had on several occasions that I was aware of, and probably many more that I was not aware of, fired people for engaging in actions interpreted as sexual harassment. The big question in my mind, in light of two incidents that I will get to in a moment, was "Why? - why did they take such a hard line? Was it because they believed that sexual harassment was wrong, or because they feared legal action?

Some years ago, there was a young woman who was employed at one of my former company's locations. At the time, she was a senior in high school. The company also at this time utilized another local company for HVAC repairs and maintenance of equipment at all of their Lincoln locations. One of the employees of this HVAC company made a habit of making sexually suggestive comments to the women employees while he was at the location on service calls. He targeted the young woman mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, making frequent lewd suggestions and commenting on her anatomy. She complained to the store director who immediately complained to the HVAC company which immediately fired the harasser. The executive committee of my former company was informed of all of this. Sounds like a quick and happy ending, doesn't it? Well, read on.

This fired employee, who we will refer to as Don Madison, was an experienced HVAC man who, soon after being fired from his old company, started his own HVAC company, Madison Heating & Air. Through a friend who worked for my old company, he obtained copies of bills from his old company (which we will refer to as ABC Maintenance) and approached the executive committee of my former company, claimed that ABC was overcharging for their services and suggested that he be given some of ABC's business. Despite being reminded by the store director who had received the original complaint of Don Madison's history, the executive committee of my former company started giving Madison business for repairs and maintenance for about half of their locations in Lincoln, as well as remodels in two of the locations. Several store directors, as well as co-workers of the young woman who had made the harassment complaint made complaint to the executive committee on numerous occasions. Madison continued to do business with my former company until his incompetence forced the company to end his contract.

In this case, my former company was in no danger of legal action. The harasser did not work for them and the complainant no longer worked for the company. They were in the clear and could continue to do business with a man who had sexually harassed one their employees, until the bottom line caused them to break off ties. I think the word "disgraceful" would not be out of line.

Another example was not quite as egregious, but indicates the pattern nonetheless.

My former company was very fond of hiring consultants; apparently the highly-paid executives were incapable of coming up with ideas of their own. One consultant had a program that was supposed to provide a framework for evaluating products and services in the various departments and included ways to get back to basics and build upon those basics. (I'll probably be writing another post about the foolishness of hiring consultants, but we're talking about sexual harassment here).

This particular consultant, on several occasions, was heard to make sexual statements to woman employees. One store director, who was present when one of these remarks was made, complained vociferously, but was ignored. Again, there was no danger of legal action, so the problem was ignored.

Do I think that my former company was unique in it's apathy in the face of sexual harassment? Sadly, I think that it is typical. But a company that throws the term "family" around when describing their employees, and has as one of its core values that they value their people, and another that they do things right, would in fact, do the right thing, not only to protect themselves legally, but because they truly care about their employees, because it's right.