Teens tend to be especially vulnerable to sexual harassment. They are new to the ways of the workplace and they are reluctant to report wrongdoing. However, although they may not be sure what their rights are, judges and juries surely will be.
We turned to The HR Red Book® by BLR® for guidance. "Because of their age and lack of experience in the working world," it says, "teen employees may be particularly vulnerable to harassment, and may not know what to do if harassment occurs."
To help protect young workers from harassment, EEOC has issued the following suggestions for employers:
- Encourage open, positive, and respectful interactions with young workers.
- Remember that awareness, through early education and communication, is the key to prevention.
- Establish a strong corporate policy for handling complaints.
- Provide alternate avenues to report complaints and identify appropriate staff to contact.
- Encourage young workers to come forward with concerns, and protect employees who report problems or otherwise participate in EEO investigations from retaliation.
- Post company policies on discrimination and complaint processing in visible locations, such as near the time clock or break area, or include the information in a young worker’s first paycheck.
- Clearly communicate, update, and reinforce discrimination policies and procedures in a language and manner young workers can understand.
- Provide early training to managers and employees, especially frontline supervisors.
- Consider hosting an information seminar for the parents or guardians of teens working for the organization.
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To make matters worse, many supervisors of teens may themselves be young, inexperienced workers. They need clear training on the kinds of behavior that are unacceptable and inappropriate in the workplace, how to respond to harassment when they observe it or hear of it, and what to do if they receive a harassment complaint.
Employers may want to refer teen employees to information available through EEOC’s Youth@Work website, the website tells young workers that the law guarantees them the following rights:
Right to work free of discrimination. This means that your employer cannot make job decisions because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability, or age (age 40 or older). This right applies to all types of job decisions, including hiring, firing, promotions, training, wages, and benefits.
Right to work in an environment free of harassment based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability, or age (age 40 or older).
Right to complain about treatment that you believe is illegal job discrimination. Your employer cannot punish you, treat you differently, or harass you if you report job discrimination or help someone else report job discrimination, even if it turns out the conduct was not illegal.
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Right to request reasonable changes to your workplace because of your religious beliefs or medical condition. Although your employer does not have to grant every request, it should carefully consider each request and whether it would be possible.
The HR Red Book also suggests the following key points concerning harassment:
Same-Sex Harassment
Sexual harassment of a member of the same sex also violates Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on sex. The harasser need not be homosexual and need not be motivated by sexual desire to be in violation of the law.
Drawing the Line
Ordinary socializing in the workplace, simple teasing or roughhousing, and male-on-male horseplay or intersexual flirting are not prohibited. The offensive conduct must be severe and pervasive in order to create liability.
The Supreme Court has adopted what might be called a "common-sense and context" approach. For example, a coach who slaps a football player on the buttocks as he heads onto the field might not be engaging in abusive behavior, but in a different context (e.g., in an office setting) such conduct might be considered harassment.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll get attorney Jonathan Segal’s rules for the gray areas of HR compliance, and we’ll take a look at an extraordinary time-saving training system for your supervisors
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