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

Date01 June 2023
AuthorHyman, 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...

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