Your anti-harassment obligations are 24/7/365.

• Author: Hyman, Jon

"I did not know that a workplace policy could be enforced when you're not at work."

Those are the words of former Tennessee Rep. Scotty Campbell, spoken to a reporter a mere six hours before he resigned his seat in the Tennessee General Assembly after a bipartisan ethics subcommittee in late April concluded he had sexually harassed two female interns after hours and away from the state house grounds.

For all the Scotty Campbells in the world, let's make this very, very clear: An employer's workplace harassment obligations are not tied to a time clock.

An employer has the same obligations whether the harassment takes place in the workplace during working hours, in the break room, at the bar during happy hour, via text message or social media, in a grocery store aisle or in outer space.

Anti-harassment obligations

When employers learn that harassment may have occurred, they should immediately implement these five steps:

1. Separate the victim from the alleged harasser. I usually recommend sending the alleged harasser home until the investigation is complete. (See step 3.)

2. Investigate the allegations promptly and fully. If you're not qualified to conduct this investigation yourself, there are plenty of qualified attorneys and other consultants who can run the investigation for you.

   One word of caution about hiring an attorney as your investigator: If the harassment complaint turns into litigation, the investigator will likely become a key witness, which would disqualify that attorney from representing you as litigation counsel. In other words, don't hire your employment litigator to serve as your harassment investigator unless you're ready to hire a new employment litigator for that case.

3. Evaluate the evidence and make a reasoned conclusion as to what happened. Your evaluation should be legally protected as long as it's your honest belief based on a reasonably thorough investigation.

4. Correct the harassment with prompt and effective remedial steps, if necessary. The standard for the corrective action is "reasonably effective." As long as it's reasonably calculated to stop future harassment from occurring, then you've met your legal obligation.

   It could be anything from a warning to a suspension to termination. It will depend on the severity of the harassment and if it's a first offense versus a repeat offense, which will require an escalated response.

5. Retrain all employees about your anti-harassment policy to help prevent future...