Managing Harassment Complaints With An Eye Toward Litigation

Originally published in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Volume 15, No. 9, September 2007.

Allegations of harassment can impact a company’s finances – if a claim goes to trial – and its reputation, something which it has spent years building and maintaining and which transcends monetary value. In order to control and cope with allegations of harassment, the legal apparatus of a company must be focused and prepared when a complaint occurs, in order to guide HR representatives through the process of investigating, responding to, and finally resolving complaints.

There should be a step-by-step process for addressing employee complaints, one that meets different goals at each juncture in order to have secure footing for the next step. Following such a process can prevent a volatile and emotional situation, one in which the lives of both the accuser and the accused are at stake, from getting out of hand.