harassment mess getting messier............help!

bananna

I wrote recently about our Executive Director who was fired for harassing a female employee. He created a job for her, gave her a bigger salary, etc. Her job doesn't really exist but we are keeping her on so she doesn't claim retaliation. Now she is attending counseling and says she has post traumatic stress syndrome (he kissed her once). She wants us to pay for the counseling and to give her extended leave with pay. We only have her story, not his as he is gone. How dangerous is this situation, I.E. do we just keep giving her what she wants so she doesn't take this further (like sue us?). Where can we draw the line? Are there any resources out there that can help me figure this out? Thanks for your opinions. I value them....

Gillian

No, you don't, and shouldn't, continue to give this person benefits to keep her happy. This is one where you need legal guidance to make sure that you do it right. There is a fine line between providing help to someone who may have been harassed and crossing the line into appearing to be guilty because you keep doing extra things for the person. There is always the risk that this person may be taking advantage of the situation. It's legal time.

Don D

You asked for a resource. Your only immediate resource is an attorney. I disagree totally with the assertion that 'there is a fine line'. There's a fat grey area between doing what you should do and drawing the line. I would not assume you do not need to continue working with her toward honoring her requests. Let your lawyer guide you through that potential mine field. You say you only have her story, not his. If he was fired because of his actions, surely somebody heard his side of this. If the woman is emotionally damaged due to the manager's actions, we can't simply dismiss it by saying 'he only kissed her once'. That may be true, but, he may have inflicted much deeper things than anyone other than her and a therapist may ever know. A lawsuit could result in a jury reflecting rather kindly on your efforts to assist the employee in going through therapy.

Lori B

Don just raised a good point re: "his" side of the story. I've seen a lot of employers get nailed by suits from the former "alleged harasser." Why? the company rushed to judgment that harassment was occuring without an investigation to get all the facts. This smacks of defamation to the now disgruntled former ee. That racy "Seinfeld" case of a few years back in Milwaukee comes to mind here.

I'm not saying harassment didn't occur here. It kind of sounds obvious...but I just caution everyone about rushing to judgment and ending careers before all the facts are in.

As far as the bigger issue of the post, I whole heartedly agree that it is time to call in the attorneys. The situation is damned if you do and damned if you don't, so get some counsel going in to weigh your options with this lady. Good luck.

System

I agree with Don D. Talking to a lawyer seems like a good idea. If you don't have one, you can find one here:
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/findanattorney.shtml[/url]

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Pork

Don't forget that personal stress from the work place could, in fact, be a W/C illness. Have one on-going right now! Instead of a "Kiss just once" it was a violent "kiss" to the floor. The young supervisor had never been in a fight and it just about destroyed her ego. Violent work place and sexual harassment in the work place go hand in glove for EEOC and OSHA. It is the responsibility of the employer to control both regardless of the one or more circumstances. Definately, get your attorney in place and walk through this one carefully. This date we met with the individual; she had developed some requirements in concert with her counselor which we were ask to accomodate. All six items were very much doable. We accomodated her request and she will be back at work and living through her worst nightmare and in rehab on-the-job for sometime to come. She had been out for almost two months and the medical expense has run up to right at $5000.00. However, the medical and disability expense is nothing compared to a disassociation of the employee after the damage was done on our time and property. We will walk with her back to a successful career with us or she will on her own decide that she "just can't handle the reality of the working world!" Good luck, Pork