Develop a 3 page workplace harassment policy for either Java Corp or an organization with which you are familiar. Be sure the policy you develop reflects ethical considerations and benefits to both the employee and organization as well as relevant legislation related to various types of harassment.
HR professionals are often called upon to develop new workplace policies to increase an organization’s effectiveness and to protect it from possible legal liabilities. Creating a succinct and comprehensive presentation for organizational management and other stakeholders is a valuable skill to possess.
Preparation
For this assessment, research sexual harassment and other forms of unlawful workplace harassment. Using one of the scenarios below, consider best practices and approaches for developing an anti-harassment workplace policy. A minimum of seven resources are required to support your approach to the new policy as well as your legal and strategic rationale.
Scenario
For this assessment, choose either option 1 or 2. You do not need to do both. You will apply one of these scenarios in the instructions below. Both options will be graded using the same scoring guide.
Option 1
You are the new HR manager for Java Corp. The company has just lost a sexual harassment lawsuit and damages include back pay, front pay, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. The plaintiff, Ms. Stapel, was a female manager who had a consensual sexual relationship with her male boss, Mr. Rowe. Both moved up in title and responsibility over the past 5 years. After the relationship ended, Mr. Rowe made several offensive comments to co-workers about Ms. Stapel, without her knowledge. Later, a number of other employees, who reported to Mr. Rowe, made offensive sexual comments directly to Ms. Stapel.
The company has a harassment policy but only referred someone who felt harassed to their immediate supervisor and provided no other avenues of complaint. Your first project for Java Corp is to create a formal policy that will protect the employees, the organization, and all stakeholders. You will also prepare a PowerPoint presentation that could be used as a training tool for new employees on the importance of following anti-harassment policies.
Option 2
Choose an organization to use for this assessment. It can be where you are currently employed or a company with which you are familiar. It must be an organization that is researchable, as you will need to gather and analyze information to complete the assessment. You may use the same organization you selected for previous assessments.
If you choose the organization where you are currently employed, please keep in mind that the analyses you make must be based on facts that can be documented rather than your personal opinion as an employee.
Think about a situation in which an employee was sexually harassed at work. Reflect on what the organization did well and what the organization did wrong.
Research the sexual and work harassment policies of the chosen organization to further assess if the situation was handled properly.
Instructions
Based on your research of sexual harassment and other forms of unlawful workplace harassment, complete the following:
In a word document, develop an anti-harassment workplace policy that includes the following components:
Objective.
Prohibited conduct under this policy, including discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and retaliation.
Confidentiality.
Complaint procedure.
Employee acknowledgment of policy.
Prepare a PowerPoint Presentation for upper management training. In your presentation:
Explain the legal basis for protecting employees from harassment with supporting laws or regulations.
Describe different types of sexual harassment found in the workplace.
This can include, but not limited to, quid pro quo and hostile work environment.
Explain other types of harassment, outside of sexual harassment, to consider in a workplace policy.
Articulate how an organization can be at risk of harassment claims and how they can best legally protect themselves.
Summarize reporting and investigation procedures.
Specifically, discuss how the issue or complaint is brought to HR’s attention, who is involved in the investigation, how the communication process works with those involved.
Summarize how the anti-harassment policy should be communicated to employees.
Analyze organizational benefits realized because of having a sound anti-harassment policy in place.
Consider company reputation, employee morale, retention, productivity, and the like.
