CDF Partner Jen Cornell discusses the latest best practices for employers to take to identify and prevent sexual harassment in the modern workplace in this HR.com article - "The #MeToo Movement Aftermath - How Companies Can Identify and Prevent Harassment in the Modern Workplace." As she notes, the standard prevention tactics are no longer sufficient to protect your company from defending potentially costly litigation and negative brand impact related to alleged claims of sexual harassment. This is a must read for any HR professional, corporate counsel, or business owner.
Excerpt: "In the early 1970s, Lin Farley, a professor at Cornell University, coined the term “sexual harassment” during “consciousness raising circles.” In the late 1970s, Catherine MacKinnon pioneered the underlying legal theories linking sexual harassment to discrimination in her written publications. In the early 1990s, Anita Hill’s allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas broadcast the term into America’s living rooms through television. It is only appropriate, therefore that the current zeitgeist began with a tweet. In late 2017, actress Alyssa Milano popularized Tarana Burke’s hashtag, #MeToo, in response to news reports about sexual harassment by powerful Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein. So, while the delivery method is qualitatively different and more instantaneous, the issues raised by the #MeToo movement are hardly new. In its latest iteration, however, women are taking advantage of the power of the never-ending news cycle, the immediacy of smartphones, and community aspects of social media to more forcefully demand workplace change than ever before. While the issues are really the same as they have always been, proving yourself to be a responsive, progressive, and inclusive employer is far more challenging. And the reasons to take such steps are growing: the EEOC is reporting that while overall complaints are down, sexual harassment complaints rose over 13 percent last year. Retaliation claims are on also on the rise.
This raises the question - how should an employer identify and prevent harassment in the modern workplace?"
To find out how, click HERE to continue to the full article.