Recent years have seen some significant adverse results from allegations of sexual harassment:
• Lafayette College: $1 million to settle a sexual harassment suit on behalf of 5 women subjected to repeated sexual harassment;
• KFC: $1 million+ to settle a sexual harassment suit on behalf of 19 women alleging unwelcomed sexual conduct by coworkers;
• Mitsubishi: $34 million to resolve suit by female employees at a plant in which the environment was "hostile" to women.
…And the list of real examples could go on at length. From Tailhook to Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and the inappropriate coach-player relationships on the Boston College Women's Hockey Team; from the sex allegations in the Catholic Church to Herman Cain's GOP presidential nomination bid, and the Penn State sex abuse claims, sexual misconduct by employees can be a costly, embarrassing event for a business or other entity. The organization's failure to take reasonable preventive steps before such an event happens and its failure to take decisive proper action afterward can both aggravate the severity of the issues and prolong the duration of resulting negative fallout.
The affects can certainly be monetary as with the judgments and settlements noted above, but such events can also cause serious injury to the organization's image and reputation, customer loyalty, donor affinity, and the ability to attract and maintain top talent, and can also bring about grave consequences for the organization for adverse law enforcement, legislative, regulatory, or other scrutiny.
On a personal level, these events can leave careers in shambles, personal reputations in tatters, bank accounts depleted, and lives destroyed.
Edmond Murray can help you as leaders and managers establishing and maintain a sexual harassment-free operating environment conducive to successful operations, and well-equipped to receive, manage, and respond to potential allegations of improper sex-based conduct. We are pleased to provide training directly to your employees as a whole, or help you train-the-trainer. Likewise, we can conduct confidential sensitive, timely, and responsive investigations on your behalf, or provide a valuable third-party legal sufficiency review and recommendations on an investigation completed by your in-house staff.
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