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Oracle Tips by Burleson |
Take
Immediate Action to Address Harassment
Harassment
in the workplace occurs in many
forms and to different degrees from subtle to openly hostile. Quite
often, low-level harassment such as comments with sexual connotations
gets overlooked by the majority of employees. However, there will be
IT employees who will exercise their right to a harassment-free work
environment. Employers must have in place the policies and procedures
necessary to promptly address harassment in the workplace.
Once employees are educated on the various forms
of harassment that are protected by law, then the proper procedures
should be executed by the managers in handling these cases. A few
suggestions to improve the expediency of addressing harassment
include:
Company communications should make it known to
employees that they are to report any forms of harassment immediately
to the Human Resources
department. The Human Resources representative should be well known to
all IT employees to avoid any delays.
The employer should act quickly in response to
reports of harassment in the workplace. Harassment cannot
be ignored; and if allowed to occur again, will only force the victim
into a more aggressive reaction such as filing a harassment lawsuit.
Employers may be liable for negligent retention practices for not
addressing harassment or any other firing offenses that result in
violence or other harmful actions in the workplace. Some of the
factors that the courts review to decide cases of negligent retention
practices that result in violence include:
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The existence of an employment relationship.
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Prior knowledge of incidents of violence and
not addressing the issues or firing the individual.
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Proof of the employee’s culpability for the
violent act.
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Linkage between the violent actions and the
death or injury inflicted on an individual.
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The severity of the consequences of the violence.
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The violence
prevention policies and procedures that have been implemented and
enforced.
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The level of effort by the employer in
preventing and detecting violent actions by employees.
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Employees are entitled to a safe work
environment.
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