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Week 3 Harassment Issues in the Workplaces

Week 3 Harassment Issues in the Workplaces

Q 0 replies. Class - Lets examine a few things here. Here is an excerpt from Walmart's policy on harassment: Harassment is conduct which inappropriately or unreasonably interferes with work performance, diminishes the dignity of any person or creates an intimidating, hostile or otherwise offensive work environment based on an individual’s legally protected status. Verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature is not acceptable in the workplace and may be determined to be sexual harassment. Examples include: • Sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexually explicit language, off-color jokes, remarks about a person’s body or sexual activities • Displaying sexually suggestive pictures or objects, suggestive looks, leering or suggestive communication in any form • Inappropriate touching, both welcome and unwelcome We also prohibit other forms of harassment based on an individual’s legally protected status, such as: • Using slurs or negative stereotyping • Verbal kidding, teasing or joking • Intimidating acts, such as bullying or threatening • Any other conduct that shows hostility toward, disrespect or or mistreatment of an individual based on the individual’s legally protected status Harassing conduct in the workplace, such as that described above, is prohibited regardless of whether it is welcome or unwelcome and regardless of whether the individuals involved are of the same or different sex, sexual orientation, race or other status. Again, Walmart prohibits retaliation and will not terminate, demote or otherwise discriminate against associates for reporting concerns. Policy On Personal Relationships: A conflict of interest exists when you manage someone with whom you have a family, romantic or dating relationship. A family relationship includes the following relatives by birth, adoption, marriage, domestic partnership or civil union: your spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandparents or grandchildren, as well as anyone who currently is a member of your household, whether or not you are related. It also may include other close personal relationships such as godparents. Even if you’re acting properly, your relationship will likely be seen as influencing your judgment. This can damage morale and disrupt workplace productivity. Therefore, you may not directly or indirectly supervise any family members or any associate with whom you have a close personal relationship, date or are romantically involved. This includes situations in which you may be able to influence that associate’s terms and conditions of employment or that associate may be able to influence the terms and conditions of your employment. Walmart strives to eliminate personal relationships that interfere with work performance or which may constitute harassment In light of These Policies, lets look at a few example: 1. Carol and Jim work on Team 6 at Acme Inc. One morning as Jim is passing Carol in the hall to get coffee, he remarks to Carol, "Hey, you look nice today, pretty dress you have on". 2. In the break room, people are discussing the day's events and local news and gossip. At one point, Jim blurts out, "did you hear Donald Trump called Senator Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas, how funny is that!" Sally later complains about what Jim Says. 3. After work on Friday, Team 6 meets for Drinks at Delaney's Bar to celebrate a completion of a project. Everyone is drinking and having a good time. Both Carol and Jim are there. After that Friday, Carol complains to the Acme HR that Jim that night cornered her in a back hallway at Delaney's and pinned her against the wall and started kissing her. She further stated that Jim put his hand up under her dress and attempted to touch her and she used her car keys to stab Jim in the palm of his other hand. Jim did have an injury to his hand when questioned about the situation by Acme HR officials. 4. Brad and Mary work together. One day they along with other co-workers go have lunch. After lunch, Brad and Mary are walking back to work. Brad asks Mary, "hey, would you like to get a drink after work Friday at happy hour..I'll buy." Mary says, "let me get back to you". On Thursday, Mary texts Brad and says, "Friday won't work for me, I can't make happy hours". Brad Friday night around 10PM texts Mary and writes, "Sorry we couldn't hook up from happy hour, But would you like to go out tomorrow night. I have tickets for the basketball game." Mary doesn't respond, but on Monday she goes to HR and files a complaint against Brad. 5. Chris and Bob work in the same department at Walmart. After a few months, they start dating. After dating for 8 months, they beak up after Chris learns that Bob starting seeing Mark who also works at Walmart but in a different department. While dating, Chris and Bob were overheard by other workers calling each other by names that would make one believe they were romantically involved. After their break-out, co-worker also observed them fighting about Mark. In light of the stated policy, what do you think about each of these situations? Keep in mind, I'm going to possibly add some additional information on some of these scenarios in question 5. Question 1: Class - How do we define harrassment in the workplace? For those of you who are working right now. posts your company's work policy in harrassment.

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According to Bennett-Alexander & Hartman (2015), there could be pervasive activity taking at the workplace or even hostile environment leading to sexual harassment. This implies that every employee must be careful about harassment in the workplace. Harassment is therefore, something which disturbs the mental peace of an working individual at the workplace because the individual would always have the fear of not being able to work in peace because of severe unprofessional actions taken by other individuals (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015).