Reprinted from the September 15, 2007 issue of MANAGER'S LEGAL BULLETIN, a widely read employment law newsletter that communicates legal guidelines to managers through scenarios based on real-life cases. Click here to view a sample issue, get more information, or sign up for a risk-free subscription.

Get Tuned In To Same-Sex Harassment

In order to effectively keep sexual harassment out of your department, you need to be able to recognize it in all of its forms. The classic scene of a male boss chasing his female secretary around a desk is not the only one. Take another look at those two male employees engaging in what may seem like harmless roughhousing.

Sometimes, two men roughhousing is just that, two men horsing around. But sometimes, two men roughhousing is one man sexually harassing the other. The EEOC reported that in fiscal year 2006, a record 15.4% of sexual harassment charges were filed by men. Many of those charges claimed harassment by other men.

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

Sam Tisdale dreaded going to work. Although he loved his job, he hated his co-workers. To him, they were testosterone-fueled cavemen who disrespected him because he didn't find their humor to be funny. In their opinion, it was Tisdale who had the problem — he couldn't take a joke like a “real” man. The more he disapproved of their antics, the more they turned up the volume on their crude jokes and focused their pranks on him. It got to the point where the men grabbed, groped, and pushed Tisdale around for laughs.

Tisdale never said anything to his manager because he was afraid his co-workers would start treating him even worse than they already were.

His manager was well aware of the dynamics in the department. And she let them be because she thought the horsing around and joking around was a sign of camaraderie. She didn't know that Tisdale felt like he was being harassed.

While Tisdale is partially at fault for not speaking up, his manager must take most of the blame for failing to recognize his co-workers' behavior for what it is. Any type of inappropriate behavior (i.e., crude jokes, unwanted physical contact) must be scrutinized.

• Is there potential liability for the company? (Not only for harassment, but also Workers' Compensation, if roughhousing gets out of hand.)

• Legal or not, does it belong in the workplace?

• Is the behavior escalating? If you don't nip it in the bud, your department could become too difficult to manage.

HARASSMENT WILL BE ILLEGAL

More men may be victims of harassment than the EEOC numbers indicate, but they may not complain for a variety of reasons. It is your job to not only recognize harassment, but also to get your employees to recognize it and say something about it. Lift these common roadblocks that may be stopping employees from alerting you to situations of same-sex harassment.

• They may not recognize that they are being harassed in the legal sense. You need to educate your staff. Plenty of people make the mistake of thinking that “sexual harassment” means that the harassment must be sexual in nature, rather than based on their gender. It may not occur to them that a heterosexual man can be harassed by another heterosexual man.

• They're afraid they won't be taken seriously. This could occur if you evince a “boys will be boys” attitude. Remember that the behavior you categorize as mere horseplay or roughhousing could be a man being bullied because he doesn't fit masculine stereotypes. Look into it and put an end to it.

• They think complaining is seen as a sign of weakness, and if they're being harassed for not fitting masculine stereotypes, “telling on” their co-workers could only cement that perception. Although you can't promise complete confidentiality, you can investigate a complaint without necessarily revealing to the accused harassers the name of the person who filed the complaint. If you can, approach the accused in terms of what you've seen and heard first-hand.

• They fear retaliation. As with any form of harassment, you must uphold the law's prohibition of retaliation against those who file complaints of harassment — by the accused harassers, the harassers' cohorts, or other managers and supervisors.

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