Watching Out for Harassment in Your Practice

These days most business owners are aware of sexual harassment and the need for having policies and employee training on this type of conduct. But sexual harassment is only one form of workplace conduct that any practice must do everything possible to prevent. There are other forms of harassment that any business owner should know about and have appropriate policies on. You should always be watching out for harassment in your practice. Here are a few others you should be aware of:

• Visual harassment: This might include things like pictures, posters, screensavers of an offending or demeaning nature. Someone having a poster of the latest Playboy Bunny or some hot semi-dressed male model would not be smart as would an offensive screensaver that others in the office could see.

• Physical harassment: This could include threatening some sort of unwanted or harmful contact, blocking someone’s movement, unwanted touching of a person, etc.

• Verbal harassment (or written): This could include making unwanted statements about a person’s appearance, clothing, body, behavior, religion, sexual orientation and/or creating rumors about a person.

• Nonverbal harassment: Examples of this could be staring at a person and making them feel uncomfortable, looking up and down their body, nasty or derogatory gestures towards a person, following a person without their permission (i.e. stalking).

You should have office policy that covers these matters. The policy should explain what harassment is and the exact steps an employee should take if they experience any form of harassment. If you don’t have an office policy manual that covers these things, consult your attorney and get one done. A law office that is very good with these matters, one that we’ve referred many practice owners to and where this data comes from is:
The Law Offices of Timothy Bowles, P.C.
One South Fair Oaks Ave. Suite 301
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-583-6600
626-583-6605 Fax

Ken DeRouchie