An employee complained to an upper-level manager that her supervisor had sexually harassed her. The response she got: The manager asked for witnesses who could corroborate or other evidence of wrongdoing.

She had nothing to offer, so the company decided it couldn’t do anything.

Eventually, however, another employee complained about the same supervisor. This time, the company got enough proof to investigate and then fire him.

But it didn’t end there: The original complainant sued, claiming she was subjected to more harassment after the company failed to investigate her complaint.

So was the manager’s response to the complaint appropriate? Yes, according to the judge. Companies can’t be expected to automatically believe every complaint they receive — that’s how innocent supervisors get mistakenly fired.

Without anything more to go on, there wasn’t much the manager could do.

Cite: Adams v. O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.

An employee complained to her supervisor that a co-worker had been sexually harassing her. The allegations were pretty severe: The woman claimed he consistently made sexual comments, touched her inappropriately and asked her to view pornography on his office computer.

The company suspended the co-worker and investigated. The conclusion: All the allegations were true. The man was suspended without pay and warned that he’d be fired if the conduct continued.

But the harassment didn’t stop and the woman complained again. The co-worker was suspended and warned a second time.

After that, the employee quit and sued the company for failing to put a stop to the harassment.

The company argued that it took appropriate disciplinary action in response to her complaints. But the judge didn’t buy it.

Two complaints should have been enough for the co-worker to lose his job. The woman testified that she was no longer comfortable coming to work with him around, and the company’s actions didn’t convince him to change his behavior.

What’s the best way to handle employees who’ve been accused of sexual harassment? There’s no easy answer. But the courts look to see if the company does something that could reasonably be expected to stop the harassment.

In this case, the company’s empty threats weren’t enough.

Cite: Engel v. Rapid City School District

One of a manager’s hardest tasks: Dealing with a difficult employee who’s constantly making frivolous complaints. What can supervisors do without being accused of retaliation?

A recent court case involved an employee who didn’t get along with his boss or his co-workers. He claimed his supervisor treated him different than younger, female employees.

Throughout his employment, he filed several complaints with management and HR. For example, he alleged:

• his supervisor refused to take his suggestions during staff meetings
• his work was monitored more closely than other workers’, and
• a performance review that labeled him as a difficult employee was the result of age and gender bias.

HR investigated each complaint, but could find no evidence of discrimination. The conclusion: The employee was “sensitive to feedback” and needed to work out his personal conflict with his supervisor. After each investigation, he was told to improve the relationship and “move on.”

Can manager discipline constant complainer?

The company began outsourcing some of its operations and had to shrink the employee’s department. He was one of the employees chosen to be terminated.

He sued, claiming he was treated unfairly because of his gender and fired in retaliation for his complaints.

The company argued that all of the employee’s complaints were handled properly and the company issued  appropriate responses. The constant complaints were disrupting the workplace, so the employee was asked to improve the relationship with his boss.

Who won the case? Answer: the company. The court ruled the complaints and the termination weren’t connected.

The judge took the situation for what it was: The company disciplined — and then chose to get rid of  — a difficult, poor-performing employee.

The lessons for managers dealing with difficult people who complain:

1. Treat all complaints the same. Assuming someone’s claims are frivolous is an easy way to avoid correcting a real problem. That could get the company sued.
2. Educate employees on what constitutes harassment and discrimination. One way to limit frivolous complaints is to educate people on what is and isn’t against the law.
3. Don’t avoid dealing with difficult people. As this case shows, managers can take action when an employee’s constant complaints disrupt the workplace. Just make sure all the problems are documented.

Cite: Brinkman v. Andersen Corp.

The anti-harassment policy.

In one recent case, an employee sued after enduring several incidents of harassment by her supervisor. The conduct she complained about was pretty severe. She alleged that he:

• used profanity on a daily basis, including slurs directed specifically at women in the office
• asked her to stay in his hotel room during a business trip
• stood uncomfortably close to her and breathed down her neck, and
• touched himself inappropriately in her presence.

However, it took several months before she filed a complaint. She eventually went to HR after receiving a bonus that was less than she expected.

The company investigated. No witnesses corroborated the allegations, so HR decided there were no grounds to fire the supervisor.

The employee was offered several options to solve the situation, including transferring her to a different office, sending the manager to counseling and bringing in an industrial psychologist to monitor his behavior.

She turned them all down and sued the company for allowing the harassment.

The company argued all the appropriate actions were taken after the woman complained — it wasn’t the HR manager’s fault that no one knew what was happening sooner. All employees received a policy requiring harassment victims to notify HR or a manager about any problems immediately.

The employee said she was aware of the policy but didn’t file a complaint sooner because she was afraid of damaging her career and decided to “go along to get along.”

Who won? The court ruled in favor of the company. Put simply, it couldn’t have taken action until the employee filed a claim. If she had complained sooner, the company could’ve acted sooner.

Also, without proof that the allegations were true, the company was right not to fire the supervisor. Employers don’t need to make those decisions based only on “he said, she said” types of investigations.

The bottom line: Just because one manager behaved inappropriately didn’t mean the company allowed or condoned sexual harassment. The judge noted that harassment can only be prevented if the victims cooperate by taking advantage of the protective measures offered by their employers.

Cite: Baldwin v. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama

The EEOC gives three reasons employees may have for not complaining — and what companies can do to make sure employees have a chance to voice their concerns:

1. “I thought I’d get in trouble if I complained” – Fear of retaliation is a common reason employees give for not telling HR or their managers about harassment, according to the EEOC. That’s why a good harassment policy will include provisions against retaliation and make it clear that employees will not be punished for raising their concerns.
2. “The process was too difficult” – Another reason victims may not complain is that the reporting procedure made it too difficult — for example, if the designated contacts are hard to get a hold of, or if the language is confusing about who employees should complain to. Courts look at harassment policies to see if there are any “unreasonable obstacles” to filing a grievance. If there are, the company could be held liable even if the employee never complained.
3. “I didn’t think it would do any good” – Employees may also decide not to complain about harassment if the company’s policy requires them to report the conduct directly to the harassing supervisor. For that reason, employers should provide multiple avenues for reporting.

When the situation involves harassment, you’d better find time to deal with it.

The case involved a woman who was harassed by an employee in another department.

Among other things, the co-worker e-mailed pornographic images to the woman and called her on her office phone, trying to engage in sexually explicit conversations.

When she complained to her boss, she said he told her that he was too busy dealing with an angry client to do anything at the moment.

She approached him a few more times, but he told her he’d get back to her after the mess with the customer was cleaned up. Meanwhile, the harassment continued.

After about a week, the manager finally did something. The co-worker was issued a warning and was eventually fired for ignoring it.

The woman sued, claiming the supervisor failed to respond to her complaints soon enough.

The court ruled in her favor. The boss may have been busy, but he should have responded to the employee’s complaints.

If he had forwarded the complaint to HR immediately, the company could have avoided a lot of trouble.

Cite: Cerdeira v. Martindale-Hubbell

Read the facts of this real-life case and decide: Who won?

The facts:

An African-American employee helped conduct interviews to hire a new member of her department. One of the candidates was an African-American woman that she recommended. However, the manager hired a white applicant who was more qualified, and the employee complained that the selection was biased. A few months later, the employee was fired due to performance problems.

The employer said:

The woman was fired because of documented performance problems — any complaint she made had nothing to do with it.

Who won the case?

Answer: The employer.

Why: In retaliation cases, companies can still be on the hook even if they prove an employee’s initial complaints were invalid. If the employee believes he or she was making a legitimate legal complaint, and the company retaliates, the employer will likely lose in court.

But that doesn’t mean an employee can claim retaliation based on just any frivolous complaint. According to the court, employees must have an “objectively reasonable” belief that they’re raising a valid concern.

In this case, the employee had no basis for believing the company had discriminated, so her retaliation claim didn’t fly. The case was thrown out.

Cite: Coleman v. Loudoun County School Board

1. Make sure you’re really done — Before making any decisions or conclusions, sit down and consider whether there are any questions you haven’t asked or people you haven’t talked to.
2. Think about the credibility of each witness — Especially if different people give different stories, you need to make sure you can believe everything that’s been said.
3. Follow up with the parties — You don’t need to tell the complainant exactly what action was taken, but telling him or her you handed out some discipline will help avoid complaints that you did nothing.
4. Remind managers of your anti-retaliation policy — Make sure managers understand the legal ramifications of treating the complainant negatively after the investigation.
5. Keep an eye out — Companies are at risk if they look into a harassment situation but fail to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

As far as the law goes, one of a manager’s most important jobs is responding to complaints from employees. A recent case shows the financial hit companies can take when the boss fails to answer effectively.

A woman sued her employer for sexual harassment. She claimed the head of her department repeatedly made sexual comments, asked her on dates and referred to her by obscene nicknames.

She complained to her direct supervisors. Their response: “Go along with it.”

The woman then brought the issue to HR. The company investigated, and the alleged harasser got a warning.

The employee took the company to court, claiming her managers ignored her complaints, and that HR just gave the department head a slap on the wrist.

Managers failed to respond

Who won?

Answer: the employee. The court agreed that the supervisors’ response was unacceptable and that the warning from HR wasn’t enough to prevent future harassment.

Furthermore, while the company had a written harassment policy, there was no evidence all employees received it. Also, the company claimed to conduct harassment training, but again, had no documented evidence that any training took place.

The case went before a jury, who made the company pay $100,000 in punitive damages.

Harassment prevention

This case brings some helpful reminders for HR pros:

• Train managers on effectively responding to complaints
• Have all trainees sign an attendance sheet to prove they were there, and
• Get everyone to sign your policy, so you can prove they received it.

Cite: Bjornson v. Dave Smith Motors/Frontier Leasing and Sales

A recent survey by HR Solutions, Inc., has the answer. Here are the top 10 complaints employees have about the companies they work for:

1. Pay is too low.
2. Pay isn’t fair.
3. Benefits cost too much.
4. Bosses “over-manage.”
5. Pay isn’t based on merit.
6. HR isn’t responsive enough to employee concerns.
7. Managers play favorites.
8. Lack of availability and communication from upper management.
9. Departments are understaffed.
10. The workplace is dirty and cluttered.