Harassment, Discrimination & Retaliation

This page will explore WHY people harass, discriminate and retaliate and what can be done to PREVENT AND ADDRESS IT.

Most workplaces forget or don’t know that it is their legal duty to PREVENT these things from happening.

This page will also explore the many responses to harassment from coworkers, observers, compliance officers, consultants, HR, leadership, unions, and others. The true stories here will reveal that there is a severe epidemic of workplace dysfunction in the US.

Millions of employees are harassed, discriminated against and retaliated against every single day and the recourse they have under the law and under company procedures often fail because of cronyism, corruption, and outright disregard for labor laws. It is imperative that every working person of any level understand this and work to change this situation.

People often harass others when they lack the emotional awareness and/or social skills to behave with intellectual honesty and emotional intelligence. This can happen with all kinds of people regardless of position, age, background or any other demographic figure.

One of the best examples of harassment I know of is that of a woman who was General Counsel (GC) at a small government entity. Her specialty was environmental law, and she was very dedicated to it. When this small governmental entity hired it’s first and only Human Resources Director, the new HR Director asked this GC if the organization (which had been in existence for several years at that point) had ever done any EEO or Sexual Harassment Prevention training.  The HR Director would have asked this anyway, but she asked this as high priority based on the statements and behaviors she was observing among many employees that were completely inappropriate for the workplace and in violation of the workplaces and the state’s stated EEO and Sexual Harassment Policies.

The GC said that no training had ever been done, and looked extremely uncomfortable. It is not possible to read others’ minds, so knowing that this was merely speculation, the HR Director noted that the GC seemed genuinely and markedly ashamed that on her watch as the GC of this workplace, she had failed to implement an extremely important legal compliance training for the entire workforce. The HR Director wanted to establish a positive working relationship with the GC and with all of her colleagues, so she intentionally approached the GC with respect in every interaction for her position to try to downplay whatever shame the GC was having.

Unfortunately, the GC’s behavior after this instance became extremely competitive.  Any time the new HR Director noted that a there was an issue with an employee, with how a manager was handling or not handling something, with needed trainings, with safety issues, with legal compliance issues, etc. – the GC responded to the HR Director as though she were either mistaken or engaging in something improper. Each time this happened, the HR Director was able to prove with credible research from SHRM or government sources that she was neither mistaken nor suggesting anything improper.

Despite this constant proof, the GC continued in this manner which resulted in the HR Director always being prepared with credible source material to back up her suggestions, observations and other aspects of doing her job.

Despite this going on for more than 7 years and the HR Director always having been able to justify her statements, observations and suggestions – one day really stood out. A man, who was a high-level executive in the workplace and who was also a very good personal friend of the GC, had been accused of sexual harassment by two different employees in formal complaints. In a meeting with the President and the GC, the HR Director explained that this was very serious and that if his actions had proven to be true, he had engaged in sexual harassment.

The GC did not want this to be true of her friend and insisted more than 5 times to the HR Director that “what he did was not sexual harassment”. Finally, the HR Director asked the GC to read the Employee Handbook (which they had collaborated on writing) definition of sexual harassment. She read it, and then she said, “Oh, it is”.

People harass people for a myriad of reasons which they themselves may not even understand initially. It is often a result of shame, of defensiveness, of not wanting to be told they are mistaken about something, or often it is due to ignorance in the form of bigotry about race, gender, disability, age, marital status, verteran status, color, religion or sexuality.

Frequently when someone is harassed, an entire new level of harassment occurs due to group dynamics, cronyism, alliances, and other blind loyalties. It is not uncommon for someone in a workplace (or a family, on a sports team, in a religious group, in a political group, in a club, etc.) to be scapegoated by a group if they complain about legitimate harassment.

When this happens, this is a function of group dynamics in psychology known as “killing someone off”. The group doesn’t realize it, but it is an extremely unhealthy, dysfunctional, unfair, and irrational way of handling anxiety within the group. The most noted and perhaps largest example of this is the Holocaust; Jews were scapegoated using effective untrue propaganda and violent threats against German citizens and others in order to unfairly and irrationall project all of their worry, anger, blame and discomfort onto the Jews, thinking that would solve their problems.

A more commonplace example of scapegoating is a teacher who instead of trying to understand the child in the classroom who repeatedly acts out – moves the child to another classroom. What often happens in this situation is that another child in the same class who had not acted out before, will now take on that role in the classroom. This does not happen 100% of the time, but it does happen more than 50% of the time and is a very frequent occurence that  points to a need for further examination of what is happening in that classroom to prompt children to act out.

Much of this has to do with personal power, how authority is used or mis-used, and how responsibly or abusively power is used – then – all of these things WILL impact how members of a group behave. When all members of a group have equal rights to express concerns, suggestions, fears, hopes, ideas, solutions, dissent, celebration, questions, etc. – there is less dysfunctional group behavior and a lesser likelihood of scapegoating. When one person or a group of people are not empowered or allowed to complain, express dissent, question, etc., there is and will be a serious problem eventually. It is a recipe for disaster.

However, if even one person does not have equal rights in a group (a family, a classroom, a workplace, a team, a club, an internet chat group – whatever) – that person is very likely to be scapegoated. That person may say, not say, do, and not do things just as others in the group do – yet one step out of line and very often one difference – whatever that may be – is very likely to result in scapegoating, which is always dysfunctional, unhealthy, unfair and unproductive. One of the most salient examples of this was in media reports after Hurricane Katrina when white people were described as “finding food” – whereas black people were described as “looting and stealing food”.

This is why sound conflict resolution trainings, sound certified emotional intelligence (including self-awareness) trainings, EEO trainings, ADA trainings, and Sexual Harassment prevention trainings are extremely important. Workplaces have a responsibility to PREVENT harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

Once we all learn these things in our workplaces and learn to bring these understandings to other aspects of our lives, we will live in a healthy, more functional, more productive society because we have chosen to do so.

Politicians who claim that such regulations are bad for profits and business are not telling the truth; workplaces that are more functional and that truly enforce a zero tolerance policy for harassment, discrimination, and retaliation are more profitable.

Properly investigating even one compliant of an EEO, ADA, or OSHA violation takes hours and hours of expensive time on the part of many in the workplace. Prevention via training and enforcement are what smart workplaces commit to.

Similarly, internet formats where strangers often communicate are fertile ground for this kind of dysfunction. Bill Maher joked recently that most discussions of things on the internet go something like this:

I hate that shit

Shut up, fag!

Fuck you!

It is true that the anonymity of the internet often emboldens people to behave in ways they never would in person. Similarly, when people are in a group in person or on the internet, Groupthink can influence people to behave in ways in the group – which they would never do on their own.

In conclusion, people harass, discriminate and retaliate for the same reason that toddlers cry when they know the words they could use but are too tired, cranky or otherwise having some problem that makes it hard for them to “use their words”. Many of us have seen parents with their toddler children urging them to “use your words” instead of whining and crying.

Adults have this problem as well. Adults harass others for a number of reasons including:

Not knowing how to respond verbally or behaviorally if they are uncomfortable

Feeling attacked when in fact they have not been attacked

Feeling ashamed or inadequate

Feeling angry and not knowing healthier ways of handling their anger

and sometimes because they are sociopaths who enjoy harming others. There is, unfortunately, a large body of research showing that sociopaths are often in high-level positions in many workplaces in the US.

The best each of us can do is to ensure that we do not harass, discriminate or unlawfully retaliate against others and that we hold those who do accountable by reporting it – whether it happens to us or to others. Workers need to support each other in these instances; there is strength in numbers, which is why unions are so very important. At the same time, we have a responsibility to understand what is NOT harassment, discrimination and retalation and to never make false allegations or bear false witness against others.

The BEST info for Employees / Applicants with Disabilities: http://askjan.org/links/faqs.htm#14

http://www.EEOC.gov

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – http://www.OSHA.gov

Search for Compliance Jobs http://careers.hereisthecity.com/jobs/search.cntns

Please Sign this Petition @change : Demand Legal Compliance in US Workplaces http://chn.ge/bO31L8

Here’s the printed text of “America is NOT Broke” (the speech in Madison by Michael Moore) http://j.mp/gNLnDF and here’s the YouTube of his Madison speech: http://mmflint.me/hMf5X3

Remain updated on how your elected officials vote on Labor and other issues: Sign up to see how your elected officials vote on various issues: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/megavote/ Make sure you tell them you want workers’ rights to be protected and improved – not gutted by the GOP who are destroying workers’ rights because they accept large campaign donations from the Koch Brothers and other corporations.

Copyright 2011 Denise A Romano – Reproduction allowed with copyright intact and inclusion of this blog address

More coming soon.