Sexual harassment by co-worker occurring off-site

sseng

Co-employees traveled to Australia and New Zealand as part of the employer's "Cultural Exchange Program." During the trip, incidents of alleged sexual harassment occurred; the alleged incidents occurred off-site, outside the boundaries of the United States. What are the rules regarding incidents of alleged sexual harassment occurring off-site, especially if the incidents are outside the boundaries of the US or out-of-state? What are the case citations of any relevant court decisions on this issue? What guidance does the EEOC and the DFEH say on this issue?

NaeNae55

Welcome to the forum SSENG!

I am not an expert so don't know about any specific laws for out of the country events.

However, does your sexual harrassment policy specifically state that it applies only in this country? Do you have anything in your policies that cover inappropriate behavior that harms your company, even if off the clock? I am sure if you look to your policies you will find something to use so you can follow up and do an investigation. At least talk to the alleged offender and get their side. You might have a better idea where to go from there.

If it becomes a case of he said/she said (hard to get eye witness accounts in this case), at least you have some place to start so you can make sure it doesn't happen again.

Good luck!

Nae

HRinGA

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-29-06 AT 02:41PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I'm no expert on "out of country" litigation, but here's my 2 cents.

This is a company sponsored program. Just because it's in another country, does not buy you a free pass to act like a moron. They are still your employees and are bound by company policies and procedures. I would deal with it like you would any other complaint. Obviously, there are going to be obstacles, but take the complaint and investigate as best you can.
Did this occur while they were working at your other facility or over the weekend while they were sight-seeing? One time incident or prolonged? You get the picture.

Note: I posted the same time as Nae-Nae. Everything I said plus ditto what she said.

System

If traveling on company business and expense, then you have every right to expect employees to behave ethically and responsibly. You should hold them to the same standards of behavior regardless of whether they are in the US or anywhere else. I beleive the key to your situation is to truly determine what occured, but if there were improprieties, discipline accordingly. Surely you have policies that spell out what is considered acceptable vs unacceptable behavior. Even if it was "off the clock", or occuring during non-standard work hours, it doesn't justify boorish behavior, especially when in travel status, when ALL time might be considered as working hours. Although I know nothing about international law, I don't beleive a court in the land would say you are overstepping your authority by addressing unwelcome or harassing behavior that occurs between your employees while traveling to a foreing country on company business.

Dutch2

Good luck...I agree with the above statement. Our harassment policy very clearly states that it covers at work and all company activities/functions including travel to and from. To me it still falls back on: if you don't do anything about it; then you are saying there was nothing wrong with these actions.
Our policy also states that all reports of harassment will be investigated.
I would treat this report the same as if it occurred in our home office.
Good luck...

sseng

Since my posting of my question, a recommendation has already been made for a further investigation of the complaint, so we will be trying to get further informaton from the alleged victim/complainant, as well as from potential witnesses and the alleged harasser. The employer's policy prohibits harassment or inappropriate conduct based on sex or other protected category and the policy does reference the prohibition against an abusive "work environment." A definition of "work environment" is not provided; however, it was decided that the best practice was to conduct a full administrative investigation of the allegation.

I found a court decision, John Doe v. Capital Cities, et. al, 50 Cal App 4th 1038; 58 Cal Rptr. 2d 122, 1996 Cal. App LEXIS 1046 (November 8, 1995) which provides information about whether harassig conduct needs to occur in the "workplace" for a potential violation of the CA Fair Employment and Housing Act (the state's non-discrimination law). In that case, the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's dismissal of the Plaintiff's sexual harassment claim. The court's opinion referred to the Precedential Decisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) which indicate:

--While the harassing conduct need not occur in the workplace, it must occur in a "work-related context;"

--While the offending conduct may and often does occur at the place of work, it need not;

--Unwelcome sexual conduct perpetrated by an agent, supervisor, or co-worker, which occurs elsewhere but is "in some fashion work-related" also constitutes sexual harassment within the meaning of the Act.

Thank you all for your input.

ray a

One point, anytime there is a complaint like this there must be some sort of an investigation. The result may be that no action is taken, but you must determine if there was a problem or not. Also, I would wonder if this guy has not been guilty of harassment while in the workplace too. You may find out he has been and then it becomes a moot point if it also happened out of the country. You got him either way.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Ray, you assume the harasser was a "guy"??

The physical location of the harassment would be less important to me than the context of the interaction and the specific details of what happened.

I would fully investigate the incident regardless of what country the employees happen to have been in at the time.