When employees complain of harassment, they often ask managers to ‘keep it between you and me’ and not take any action. But a recent court ruling shows why supervisors should always notify HR about possible harassment issues.

An administrative assistant sued for sexual harassment after being exposed to pornography via her boss’s computer.

The man regularly viewed the offensive material in his office, roughly 20 feet from the woman’s desk. She could often see or hear what he was watching.

She brought his conduct to the attention of her department’s manager. According to the company’s harassment policy, the manager should’ve immediately forwarded the accusation to HR.

But he didn’t — because the employee asked him not to file a formal complaint. Still, when the conduct continued, she took the company to court.

‘Keep it between you and me’

Who won the case?

Answer: The employee.

It didn’t matter to the court that the employee asked the manager not to take the complaint to HR — he should have done so regardless. After being notified, the company had a duty to put a stop to the harassment.

The company failed to get the case thrown out, and ended up settling out of court for $100,000.

The bottom line: Managers need to be trained on handling harassment complaints. Even when managers are asked to “keep it between you and me,” they should notify HR immediately so some action can be taken.

As this case shows, granting an employee that request can get companies in big trouble.

Cite: Beem v. County of Madison

About 16% of male employees admit to having seen pornography at work, according to Harris Interactive poll. Most say it was accidental — but 6% have gone to porn sites on purpose during work.

For women, only 5% had viewed the offensive material.

Those are scary numbers for HR, since many companies have been sued for harassment because of pornography in the workplace.

Why should HR care how employees are using company computers? Because they might be doing something that can land you in court.

In one recent case, an employee sued her former employer for sexual harassment. Her claim: On three separate occasions, she was exposed to pornography being viewed by a co-worker.

The company tried to have the case thrown out, claiming that no “adverse action” was ever taken against the women — i.e., she wasn’t fired, demoted, given a pay cut, etc. — and the three instances weren’t serious enough to warrant a lawsuit.

But the judge ruled for the employee. According to the court, exposure to offensive material like pornography is “uniquely and extremely severe” — and enough to create a hostile work environment and constitute sexual harassment.

Tips for managers

As this case shows, companies can be on the hook for offensive or illegal content employees download at work. Even without other complaints, that can be enough to lead to a harassment suit.

Here are three things employers can do to stay out of trouble:

• Have a policy. A good computer use policy requires cooperation between IT and HR. HR’s job is to decide what’s acceptable and what isn’t, and IT decides how behavior will be blocked and/or monitored.
• Respond to complaints. Companies aren’t expected to know what every single employee is doing at all times — it’s when managers are made aware of offensive behavior and don’t do anything that companies get in trouble. Make sure supervisors understand the dangers of not taking action when employees complain.
• Be wary of getting too strict. Keeping employees from viewing porn is one thing — telling employees they can never use the Internet for personal reasons is another. The latter could cause backlash among many employees.

Cite: Criswell v. Intellirisk Management Corp.

Jane Price, a waitress in England, felt she was sexually harassed by her boss. She took her complaints to the restaurant’s owner (who happened to be the accused manager’s brother-in-law). He did nothing to address the situation.

Instead, a few days later, the woman got a text message that read: “I think it is best you don’t come back to work. I did not like the way you conducted the situation. It left a bad feeling and it won’t be long before you do it again.”

That’s right: She was fired through text message.

Not surprisingly, an employment tribunal didn’t look too kindly on the circumstances or the method of the termination. The company had to pay the woman the equivalent of about $120,000.

Sexually harassing their subordinates through text messages.

That’s the problem a recruiting firm in Ireland is dealing with. An employee of the company received a sexually explicit text message from her boss at two o’clock one morning. He denies sending it, claiming a friend used his phone that night without telling him.

The company must’ve bought his story, because he was never disciplined. But a judge didn’t believe him, and made the company pay the woman the equivalent of about $50,000.

New tools, same rules

What’s the lesson for HR? Though the methods of harassment have changed, the ways of dealing with it have stayed pretty much the same. The court (like one in America likely would have) mentioned that a better investigation and a more effective complaint procedure would have kept the company out of trouble.

In one recent case, a company’s high-ranking supervisor had a habit of regularly watching pornographic videos in his office. His secretary knew about it, and it made her uncomfortable. So she complained to a vice president.

Nothing was done after that. In fact, after the supervisor learned about the complaints, he stopped speaking to the woman, took away most of her work and, she said, tried make her quit. Instead, she sued.

At first the company won, but an appeals court reversed in the woman’s favor. Why? The court ruled that “the mere presence” of pornography is enough to create a “hostile work environment” and move a sexual harassment claim forward.

The lesson for all companies is two-fold: First, is the importance of keeping tabs on what employees are doing with their computers and having a policy against inappropriate use.

And second, the policy must be enforced and complaints must be taken seriously. It’s impossible for companies to be aware of everything employees are doing. But when they are aware and don’t action, that’s when they get in trouble. In this case, if anyone had responded to the secretary’s complaints, the outcome probably would’ve been different.

Cite: Patane v. Clark