Yesterday’s Advisor featured attorney Jonathan Segal’s tips on harassment avoidance; today, touching and Facebook harassment, plus an introduction to the indispensible 50×50—50 Employment Laws in 50 States.
What about touching? Say a female supervisor touches the shoulder of a female subordinate when discussing a performance issue.
There are a lot of possible positive reasons why a supervisor might touch a subordinate on the shoulder—consoling, supporting, reassuring—but most likely the action will be felt as intimidating, condescending, or even worse, as a come on.
So make this your rule, Segal says: When power is at a peak—such as during an appraisal or discipline or coaching—do not touch.
Segal, who is one of SHRM’s most popular speakers, is a partner in the Philadelphia office of law firm Duane Morris LLP. His remarks came at a recent SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition.
In these types of situations, the subordinate may assume that the supervisor doing the offensive touching knows it is objectionable, but the supervisor may not know it—because of diversity in perspective.
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Add Empowerment Training
So add empowerment training to your harassment training. Give employees examples of what to say when they find something offensive.
Many people’s predilection is to attack—“You’re a racist swine and a sexist pig who doesn’t value women”—but that doesn’t work. The recipient of this is likely to respond by defending himself or herself.
Here’s a better approach: “When you do X, it makes me uncomfortable. Please stop.” This is a clear statement. The person who receives it may be able to accept it because it’s not calling them a bad person.
The good news is that employees may be able to solve some of their problems on their own. However, cautions Segal, it’s critical in your training and policy that you don’t say the employee must confront the person first; make clear it’s an option, not a mandate.
I Can Do What I Want on My Private Facebook Page
In one tragic case, says Segal, a worker photoshopped a colleague’s face onto a prostitute’s body and posted the picture on a FaceBook page as “private.” However, the worker had 5429 friends, and one of the friends was friend of the employee who was humiliated.
Your policies need to say that even if material is posted on your private page, if others become aware of the material and it references a coworker or business partner, it may violate harassment policy. Once the issue has cascaded into the workplace, the company is going to take corrective action.
State Laws May Interfere
Of course, says Segal, be aware that state laws may affect an employer’s ability to take action in certain circumstances. For example, many states have laws which state that the employer cannot take action against an employee for engaging in lawful off-duty conduct. So it is wise to review your policy with your attorney.
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