Tagged: Harassment, Investigations
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Forum: Private
ON based employer
We have an organization that sets up jobs that require part time employees and volunteers of the organization (who get honorariums) to test athletes.
Recently, it seems a part-time employee reported that a volunteer felt harassed/ intimidated by an athlete on the job. Since then, the volunteer has asked to not work with that team. We have cancelled further testing with that entire team till we know more.
The volunteer is refusing to provide any further information, the part-time staff only suspects this happened based on the demeanor of the volunteer and them asking to not do these type of jobs again. There is no official witnessing of this happening. Based on this what are the duties of the employer? Do we have still have to attempt an investigation trying to communicate directly with the volunteer? Or because its hearsay, it doesn’t have to proceed.
This is definitely a gray area situation. The duty to investigate harassment isn’t based on the status of the worker allegedly targeted for harassment; what matters is that it occurred in the workplace to a person carrying out work for you. And even if the duty didn’t extend to volunteer, a report of harassment against a volunteer would likely be deemed reasonable notice that harassing conduct took place in the workplace suggesting that one or more employees might have also been harassed, triggering the duty to investigate.
As for hearsay, I think what matters more is whether the person who reported the harassment is credible and there’s no indication that he/she had an axe to grind or acted in bad faith. I’d also suggest that you’ve already initiated the investigation by interviewing the volunteer. If you got no useful information and there are no other witnesses, you may be in a position to conclude that further investigation would be impossible, futile or unwarranted. But if there is other credible evidence to support the witness’ report, you should proceed.
It’s critically important that you document your conversation with the volunteer, the absence of witnesses and the reasons you decided not to further investigate. Of course, you should also document this even if you continue the investigation.
Final caveat: These are just my personal opinions based on the information you provided. Even if I did have all the facts, I’m neither qualified nor allowed to provide you legal counsel. If feasible, talk to a lawyer who can give you counsel. Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out at glennd@bongarde.com if you want to follow up.
Glenn Demby, Editor in Chief, OHS Insider
Thank you for this information. To provide further context, we have not yet spoken individually to the volunteer. Only the part-time employee has done so (which is where the individual back peddled to avoid escalating the issue) the part-time employee suggested us sending a notice to the other organization but doing so would involve assuming the other party was at fault based on observation. When other organizations and employees from our own organization are involved, what does investigation look like? As well, till this is being looked into, would it be unsafe to send a different staff member into the field to conduct any further testing for this particular organization as this could be a potentially unsafe work environment?
The immediate priority is to speak to the volunteer directly. Once you have his/her account, you can make an informed assessment of the situation and potential harassment risks posed to other employees. There are a lot of useful resources on the OHS Insider site on how to investigate harassment complaints or, in this case, rumors. Again, the first step is to talk directly to the alleged victim to determine what happened and whether a more complete investigation is necessary. If so, you’ll need to entrust those duties to a competent person with experience in investigating workplace harassment AND who is fair, objective and in no way involved in the situation. “Involved” includes having a personal interest in what might have happened, e.g., a supervisor who fears he/she will “look bad” if the volunteer was harassed. Hope that helps. glennd@bongarde.com if you want to continue the conversation offline. Glenn Demby, Editor in Chief
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