I am a supervisor of 3 staff. Recently the staff became angry at me for a variety of reasons. I then found out that they made allegations of sexual harassment toward me. The allegations include the fact that I have hugged them (when upset over a death in family), held one staff's hand (also another death) and rubbed one staff's shoulders after being upset. Our office culture is very informal, the staff hug each other, they hug other people and have asked me to hug them on occasion. The approached my employer and told her that my hugging is unwelcomed. They never once told me that my hugging was unwelcome. Just yesterday after another person walked into the room, one the same staff that made these complaints went right up to the person and gave her a hug. My question, is this sexual harassment? How am I to know that it is unwelcomed when they haven't indicated to me that it is. They told my employer that they don't believe my hugging is sexual in nature or that they believe I am "coming on to them", yet my employer has written up a performance warning to be placed in my file stating that I violated our sexual harassment policy because I hugged them and wants me to sign the statement. Under no circumstances do I feel I violated anything. I understand that once they say it is unwelcomed and I continue, then there is a problem, but how can I know if no one says so for 6 months and then brings up a stockpile of things when they are angry at me. I am very confused by this, as I see other people on staff hug each other, especially when an employee is upset. Please let me know what my rights are and what steps I should take. I told my supervisor I am not signing anything until I have some legal counsel.

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