Employers attend workshop on harassment in the workplace

Dozens of Rio Grande Valley employers attended a workshop on Harassment in the Workplace on Thursday at the Brownsville Convention Center.

Attorneys from Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated collaborated with the Brownsville Better Business Bureau to discuss employer strategies to limit liability during incidents of sexual harassment, while creating a work environment that encourages transparency and discourages inappropriate behavior.

"People are asleep with the switch on with this issue," said Donna McElroy, a San Antonio-based attorney who hosted the session with her colleague Ray Bissmeyer. "(Employers) don't do anything to prepare themselves or their employees until there's a complaint."

The attorneys used historical examples to demonstrate how employers frequently fail to protect themselves from financial losses by inadequately investigating harassment complaints when they are made, neglecting to ensure that employees are aware of their rights, and creating an inconsistent disciplinary environment.

"You have to make it easy for people to make a claim and make sure people know that they have no fear of retaliation," said Bissmeyer, citing examples in which companies suffered major financial losses when juries found that a harassment victim had found it difficult to contact the correct person to make a complaint.

Although the main focus of the workshop was sexual harassment, the attorneys also discussed incidents of employee bullying, race-based and sexual orientation-based discrimination. Bissmeyer recommended that employers hold annual training sessions for all employees to educate them on identifying harassment and making a complaint.

"It's a very common belief that if an employee does complain, they risk being penalized," McElroy said. "These things happen in the workplace, we can't ignore them. People just have to be educated about the proper way to proceed in these situations."

According to Bissmeyer and McElroy, employers have little to lose if they proactively handle harassment, inform their employees of their rights, and encourage employees to come forward if they feel harassed without fear of retaliation.

Once a complaint is filed, employers should be careful to thoroughly investigate the claim and may need to fire employees whose behavior is unacceptable.