The recent news about the extent to which Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has engaged in outrageous conduct towards women exposed a serious weakness in holding powerful people accountable.
Many have questioned how Weinstein was able to engage in this blatant behavior for years, against multiple women, with no oversight.
The answer is simple — he could, so he did.
This isn’t just a problem just at a big Hollywood company — it is a problem on Main Street for employees who go to work every day.
In any organization, there are people with the power and employees and customers depending on the people with power for their livelihood and careers.
We count on the basic concept that people in power will not abuse it. Many won’t. Some will.
Whether working retail, at a fast-food restaurant, the public sector, in a big company or a construction site, someone has control over the careers of other people.
Employees should not have to come to work and “take it.”
They should be free to come to work and be treated fairly and respectfully without fear of retaliation or loss of job or opportunity because they refuse to engage in nonconsensual behaviors with their boss.
While people can criticize the women for their failure to report, the reality is that there was no legitimate structure in place to resolve the situation in their favor. If anything, women feared, rightfully, retaliation for failure to participate in Weinstein’s demands and for reporting his conduct.
To avoid these situations, employers should follow the road map provided by federal law on how they should address harassment by managers and supervisors.
Under federal law, employers can avoid liability for sexual and other harassment if they train supervisors, managers and leaders to prevent harassment; they take action to stop it promptly upon being on notice of such misconduct; and they create a process for employees/victims to raise their concerns in multiple avenues without fear of, or actual, retaliation.
Immediately upon being on notice of the allegations, employers should conduct an objective investigation and render a conclusion.
Those conducting investigations should be trained to uncover misconduct. In a “he said/she said,” someone is lying and it is the job of the investigator to determine who that is. No investigation should conclude inconclusively.
Too often investigators who cannot find firm proof (a video, an admission or an eyewitness) fail to render conclusions, which could result in a person with bad behavior remaining on the job.
Finally, organizational leadership must agree that it will not let anyone be above the policies or the law.
Organizations should set the tone at the top — that harassment and abuse of power will not be tolerated. This is especially true with senior leadership who should be modeling the expected behaviors.
Therefore, zero tolerance at the top must be implemented by a boards of directors who oversee organizational leadership, and by CEOs for the C-suite.
Finally, employees who feel they are harassed at work, and have not been able to find redress through their employer’s internal processes, or who feel they are retaliated for complaining about harassment, can file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Information can be found at EEOC.gov.