Sexual harassment: don’t hesitate, report it
Uncomfortable and unclear situations regarding sexual harassment may include reports about long-term managers, higher-ups in the workplace, long-term employees, or friends of the person to whom the harassment complaint is made.
Using names other than the employee’s real name, such as Poncha or Thalía, can have meanings you never thought of. In the day of internet slang on porn sites, weird sexual terms pop up all the time that you may not be familiar with, but which offend the person being harassed. The reports could include the following:
• Reports that a man is harassing another man, or a woman is harassing another woman.
• Reports that a gay person is being harassed by a straight person or vice versa.
• Reports that a transgender or cross-dressing person is being harassed
• Reports that someone is harassing someone who is known to be married or a “family man”
• Reports of words being used to harass someone that are spoken in a foreign language with which the person receiving the report is unfamiliar, or the person receiving the report is unfamiliar with the current slang of the language in which comment is made.
• Reports that someone is being harassed who the person receiving the reports considers unattractive, old, or not worth harassing.
Bradley v. Department of Corrections, requires that the employer’s investigator must understand, and the investigation must ultimately be aimed at determining guilt; ensure that the complainant is safe from harassment; To determine what steps are necessary to stop the bullying, simply listening to the complainant is not enough.
Employees who are terminated for complaining of sexual harassment, or because of their participation in an investigation, may sue under the Fair Employment and Housing Act for loss of employment, California Government Code Section 12940(h).
Do not hide facts if you are filing a sexual harassment complaint. Provide as much information as possible, or you will later be accused of not mentioning a critical aspect of the harassment that took place.
If you are involved in a sexual harassment investigation, be careful when naming witnesses. If you’re not sure if someone saw something, don’t say you’re a witness. If there are witnesses who are former employees or family members, be sure to tell the employer about these people and offer access to any non-employee who you have contact information for but who your employer may not know.