Nick Hine, partner at law firm Thomas Eggar, responds to your employment law questions:
A female member of my team complained to me that she is being harassed by somebody else within the company. She says that his emails and texts are bordering on the pornographic and she doesn’t know what to do about it. What should I do about this?
– Name Witheld
If an employer becomes aware of harassment in the workplace then really they are duty bound to do something about it. This is especially so if you are in a senior or managerial position as the buck essentially stops with you.
Once a senior person is aware of an accusation, effectively it will be deemed to be constructive knowledge by the employer.
The first stage is probably to go to the HR department to explain to them the position so that they and start an investigation to see whether or not there is substance to the complaint.
This may mean looking at the emails in question. If there sufficient evidence is found, the next stage is to meet with the employee being harassed and to discuss it with her.
Even if she does not wish the investigation to go any further, the wheels have now been set in motion and the whole process needs to be completed.
As an employer you have a duty to ensure that this sort of activity does not happen again and a stance on the behaviour concerned should form part of your equal opportunities and anti-harassment policies.
If an employer is aware of harrassment activity and does little or nothing to stop it then they will have little opportunity to defend any claim for compensation that may arise as a result.
Once investigated, the employer will have to decide whether or not to speak with the offending employee and whether to start disciplinary proceedings.
It is possible that the employee being harassed may wish to raise a grievance and it can be dealt with through this disciplinary process. Although senior managers and employers may find investigating a sexual harrassment complaint distasteful, or view it as disruptive, sweeping the issue under the carpet is not a good idea. It’s far better to deal with these issues sooner rather than later.
