Employer Responsibilities, Harassment Policies, & Reporting Protocols

What to Expect:

If an employee reports a case of sexual harassment, they can expect employers to respond with the following remedial steps:

1. When filing a complaint, you should feel that you are being heard by Employers/HR Reps. You should be asked to share your entire side of the story. You should also expect to answer any clarifying or follow-up questions pertaining to the alleged harassment.
2. You should expect your employer/HR Rep to take immediate action to address the harassment allegations. Immediate action in this case altering the alleged perpetrator’s work assignments, schedule, or location to reduce chances of the alleged victim being in the vicinity of their alleged perpetrator.
3. The next step you can expect is the launching of an investigation into the alleged sexual harassment. During this investigation, you may be required to provide your employer with any documentation or witnesses (if you have them).
4. Limited Confidentiality: When an employee files a Sexual Harassment complaint, employers/HR cannot grantee 100% confidentiality to the victim. In order to properly investigate the harassment claims, the employer may need to share the names of both the victim and the alleged perpetrator as well as some (or all) details of the harassment claim. That being said, employers should only share this information with those participating in the investigation. This is to protect both the victim and the alleged perpetrator.

Employer Responsibilities: 

According to Section 2-109(B) and/or Section 2-110(C) of the Illinois Human Rights Act, employers are required to:

1. Prevent Sexual Harassment
2. Investigate Sexual Harassment
3. Correct Sexual Harassment
4. Prevent any Retaliation against the Victim of Sexual Harassment

1. How Should Employers Prevent Sexual Harassment? 

In regards to a Sexual Harassment Policy, employers should: 

1. Have a detailed sexual harassment policy
2. Make sure all employees are familiar with this policy by frequently implementing and communicating it
3. Make sure all employees and supervisors are familiar with the process of reporting incidents of sexual harassment or any conduct of a sexual nature

In regards to Sexual Harassment Training, employers should: 

1. Provide training to managers on sexual harassment prevention
2. Provide training to managers on how to handle sexual harassment claims
3. Provide training to employees on sexual harassment prevention
4. Provide training to employees on how to report sexual harassment

Additional Preventative Steps Supervisors Should Take: 

1. Supervisors should always be aware of their employees’ conduct in the workplace. This awareness can prevent sexual harassment from taking place and/or ensure that sexual harassment is caught and addressed as quickly as possible.
2. Supervisors should always set an example for their employees. This means a supervisor should never engage in any form of harassment, sexual harassment, or unlawful discrimination. By setting this example, supervisors can set the tone for a healthy work environment.
3. Supervisors should regularly discuss the sexual harassment policy via all-hands meetings, emails, newsletters, etc. By openly discussing sexual harassment, the supervisor reduces any stigma associated with reporting these incidents. These discussions also serve as reminders of the steps laid out in the employer’s sexual harassment policy.

2. How Should Employers Investigate Sexual Harassment? 

When an employee has reported an incident of Sexual Harassment, it is the employer’s responsibility to conduct a full investigation into the incident and the alleged perpetrator’s history.

When this happens, employers should immediatly take the following steps: 

1. Interview the victim
2. Protect the victim from any further sexual harassment by separating them from the perpetrator (Note: A victim’s schedule/hours should never be effected. The alleged perpetrator’s schedule should be adjusted to protect the victim)
3. Interview any and all witnesses to the incident and any related incidents
4. Interview the alleged perpetrator
5. Maintain organized documentation of the steps above as well as the results of the investigation
6. Attach the investigation file to any employment records of the perpetrator
7. Take steps to correct the behavior

3. How Should Employers Correct Sexual Harassment? 

After conducting an extensive investigation, if an employer finds that sexual harassment has taken place in their workplace, they should take steps to correct this behavior and prevent it from happening again.

Employers should take the following Corrective Steps to address Sexual Harassment: 

1. Take disciplinary action against the perpetrator which may include a verbal/written warning, mandatory counseling, transfer to another location/job, suspension, and termination.
2. If necessary, update the sexual harassment policy to prevent the incident form occurring again.
3. Requiring and providing additional sexual harassment training immediately following the investigation.
4. Regularly follow-up with the victim to ensure they have not faced any additional harassment from co-workers

4. How Should Employers Prevent Retaliation?

The State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/15-10), the Whistleblower Act (740 ILCS 174/15, 20, 20.1, 20.2), and the Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5/6-101) require employers to, “actively implement policies to ensure their workplaces are safe for employees to report concerns about sexual harassment without fear of retaliation, loss of status, or loss of promotional opportunities.”

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers are responsible for preventing any acts of retaliation against employees who report harassment, “regardless of whether such complaint is justifiable.”

“Retaliation” means any negative job-related actions, including, but not limited to, discharge, demotion, denial of promotion or transfer, or any other change in the terms and conditions of employment related to the employee’s reporting of an allegation or participation in an investigation.  

Retaliation is reported in the same manner as reporting unlawful discrimination, harassment, or sexual harassment.

Examples of retaliation include:

1. Further harassment (either by the original perpetrator or by a manager/supervisor/employer)
2. Being left out of meetings, events, emails, work activities, etc.
3. Giving the employee poor performance reviews
4. Terminating or demoting the employee
5. Changing his or her job duties or work schedule
6. Transferring the employee to another position or location
7. Reducing his or her salary or benefits
8. Denying the employee a promotion or pay raise

Proving retaliation occurred requires documentation. First the victim needs to report the harassment to their supervisor or HR department depending upon the company’s written harassment policy. Next, if retaliatory action is taken against the victim (by either the original perpetrator or by the company), they should keep records of each action. Victims should also keep records of their work history (old emails, performance reviews, etc.) prior to making their initial harassment complaint. The goal in culminating this documentation is to prove that there is a link between the Harassment complaint and the alleged retaliatory actions.

Who is Liable? 

If the Perpetrator was a Co-Worker/Nonemployee: 

The perpetrator is held liable for their own actions. However, if the victim informed their employer and nothing was done to prevent further harassment, the employer then becomes liable.

If the Perpetrator was a Manager/Supervisor: 

In these instances, the employers are always held liable regardless of whether or not the employer was informed of the harassment. They are held responsible for the actions of their managers/supervisors.