Urgent: Off-duty criminal conduct

das

Please help! An employee confided in a friend (who was her former supervisor)
that she was sexually assaulted at an off-duty party by a co-employee. She did
not want anyone to know and did not want to report it to the police. Her "friend", who is in a supervisory position with the organization, arranged a meeting with herself and the accused employee. The friend was present during this meeting. At the meeting the accused admitted that he had sex with her without her willing participation.
The friend arranged for them to be on different shifts so they would have no contact. He did not report the incident to management nor did he report it to the police.
One year later, the employee decided to press charges, it became public and the offender was terminated. Management became aware that the employee confided in her friend about the issue over one year ago. He states that he was acting, not as the employee's supervisor, but as a friend when she confided in him. He said that she made him promise that he would not go to the police or tell anyone. He felt that, because of the embarassment she could potentially face, he was obligated to keep her wishes for privacy and it was off-duty. The issue is whether he had a legal obligation to report this to management? Our policies are not specific to how to handle off-duty conduct and/or knowledge of criminal conduct.

Don D

and it was off-duty. The
>issue is whether he had a legal obligation to report this to
>management?

I do not see how he could have 'a legal obligation to report this to management'. The law does not typically address what a person must report to his employer. Only your company sexual harassment or general conduct policy might do that. If your policy is specific or even if not, and the supervisor had a legitimate misunderstanding as to the paramaters and requirements of the policy, you might either firm up the policy or address this sort of thing in upcoming supervisory training sessions. If the supervisor seems to be indicating that he didn't agree with the policy, therefore failed to report it, you have another matter entirely. If this is an important matter in the company, I think I might run it by the corporate attorney. Otherwise, simply tighten up either the policy or peoples understanding of the policy. I'm not sure I would have reported it either, given the facts as you state them. Would have to know more and thoroughly analyze it all.

marc

Wow, what a can of worms! There are so many issues in this story that one hardly knows where to start. As to your question, even though the friend did not want to be the supervisor in this instance, he/she still is. Once burdened with the knowledge at this level, the company has been notified and the full force of your sexual harrassment policy should have kicked in.

There are many other issues to deal with, including the knowledge of criminal activity - I mean this was an assault. The supervisor may end up as a witness in a criminal case and/or a civil case. The company lawyer should be in on this one right away.

mbeam

Yikes, my concern would be that it did impact the workplace since the former supervisor/friend arranged for a meeting on-site that also impacted work schedules.

What a tough situation to be in as he may be accessory to the fact for not reporting this - not sure how the courts would look upon this as the offender admitted assaulting someone against their will which is a crime.

lnelson

I tend to agree with Don D. on this if this is off-duty even though the friend is a supervisor of the company you cannot, unless specified in the handbook, expect everything that happens off-duty and in the presence of other ee's to be reported to the company. It is their right to have privacy therefore, there should be no legal obligations.

You did not say if the meeting between the two parties was held on company time or premises? That would be the only problem I can see at this point.

I would expect since the friend is privy to all the details he will be called as a witness should the case go to trail.

I aslo agree that you should seek legal counsel to confirm.

Good Luck!

marc

When you are in a supervisory capacity, you are always "on the clock" with respect to some issues. The fact that the contact was between employees that led to adjusting the work environment should have tipped of the supervisor that the issue was bigger. Once burdened with this knowledge, the duty to keep the confidence is overshadowed by the duty to the company. The victim of the crime was in a tough position, and speaking to the supervisor/friend in confidence put that person in a difficult situation also. Torn between not wanting to betray a confidence and the duty to the company. The touchy/feely side of us wants to honor the confidence, but by accepting the responsibilities that come with the supervisor title, we have also agreed to conduct ourselves in ways that protect the company from exposure. The fact that the victim later pressed charges is an indication that other action could have come from the employer relationship. Any lawyer she contacts would certainly explore all avenues available to benefit their client. That is their duty.

mwild31

I agree with Marc on this issue. As I read your post, it sounds as though a meeting took place on company property to investigate this issue, the accused admitted to the act (also on company property), and the corrective action (switching shifts) was doled out on company property & all of these things were done on company time, affected operations (switching shifts) and at company expense. If off-site is truly the sticky point, then you should eliminate it quickly. If it was really an off-site incident, the meeting, the confession & the remedy would have occured off-site as well & wouldn't have impacted the business.

I think your company may be in trouble & you should contact your attorney. You should also tighten up your investigation policies and harrassment policies & conduct a company-wide training session on harrassment & do a separate one for supervisors & management - outlining reporting requirements. If I knew a supervisor was conducting an investigation into this type of situation without HR sanction or HR being present (HR does investigations in my company) I would fire the supervisor. Bottom line, can you imagine having to sit on the witness stand and try to explain, "No, no, no Mr/Ms Attorney, even though I'm a supervisor at the company & it's my job title, I was wearing my 'friend' hat at the time of the meeting."

Good luck to you - let us know how it turns out.

Crout

When he conducted a meeting on company property and took official action by rearranging schedules, he effectively made it a company issue and should have alerted someone in his chain-of-command. He also made a mistake in bowing to the wishes of the victim and keeping the whole thing quiet. The first thing he should have told her is that once the company gets involved the ball rolls down hill on it's own accord and her wishes are secondary to appropriate procedure.

HS

I want to know why now? Why one year later? Has something been going on at work between these two to bring this up again? Nevermind that it should have been reported when it first happened.