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action. On Nov. 22, the EEOC published new informal guidance on its website regarding harassment, titled “Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment.”
The EEOC encourages employers to adopt policies and pro- cedures that...
• Provide multiple avenues for making complaints.
• Periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the organiza- tion’s strategies to prevent and address harassment, in- cluding reviewing and discussing preventative measures, complaint data and corrective action with appropriate
personnel.
• Ensure that concerns or complaints regarding the policy,
complaint system and/or training are addressed appro-
priately.
• Direct staff to periodically, and in different ways, test the
complaint system to determine if complaints are received
and addressed promptly and appropriately.
• Conduct anonymous employee surveys on a regular basis to assess whether harassment is occurring or is perceived
to be tolerated.
Among other features, the EEOC suggests harassment poli-
cies that also...
• Describe processes for employees to informally share or
obtain information about harassment without filing a
complaint.
• Include a statement that employees are encouraged to
report conduct that they believe may be prohibited ha- rassment (or that, if left unchecked, may rise to the level of prohibited harassment), even if they are not sure that the conduct violates the policy.
• State that the employer will provide a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation.
Get an insider’s view into the unique life of a big-city undercover cop:
Learn what it feels like as McCarthy walks throughout the wreckage of the worst aviation disaster in Chicago’s history – American Airlines flight #191 –
collecting bodies and body parts.
Go behind the scenes as McCarthy, wired by the FBI, is bribed by an Asian organized crime figure to protect a secret Asian gambling den in Chicago’s Chinatown.
See how McCarthy turned five Thai hookers into informants to solve a brutal murder in Philadelphia.
Ride along with McCarthy’s FBI squad as they try to stop a gang war in the aftermath of the shooting of a Vietnamese gang leader.
Read what it’s like to be a SWAT team mem- ber in a two-day standoff with a cop killer.
Ride with McCarthy and his partner as they police Cabrini Green, the most violent housing project in Chicago.
• Respond to complaints by employees and by other indi- viduals on their behalf.
• Include processes to ensure that alleged harassers are not prematurely presumed guilty or prematurely disciplined for harassment.
The EEOC also encourages employers to appropriately docu- ment every complaint, from initial intake to investigation to res- olution; to use guidelines to weigh the credibility of all relevant parties; and to prepare a written report documenting the inves- tigation, findings, recommendations and disciplinary action imposed (if any) and corrective and preventative action taken (if any).
Local law enforcement agencies should take notice of the EEOC’s recommendations and ensure that supervisors and managers may benefit from additional training. Employers should consider and implement new forms of training, such as workplace civility, respectful workplace or bystander interven- tion training. Times have changed, and law enforcement has changed from a predominantly male workforce to a more di- verse one.
I don’t think a guy like Harvey Weinstein would have lasted too long as a Police Officer. His attempts at exposing/pleasuring himself would have ended with a steel-toed boot to the giblets. Humor and good-natured ribbing have long been associated with Police Officers who need an outlet to deal with the violence and despair they experience on a daily basis. Police Officers respond to situations that would cause the average citizen to curl into a fetal position. But no matter how dangerous or troubling things get, Police Officers must maintain their com- posure and act as professionals. Making sure their workplace is free from sexual harassment should be one of their easiest assignments. d
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