I am An H/R Officer in A small California Company (40 employees). A female employee (she is in sales) was filing an incident report against our warehouse manager (male) for misdelivering one of her orders. While I was interviewing her on this matter, she became upset and said the male warehouse manager was messing with her orders on purpose, When I asked Why? she stated he had been making inappropriate remarks and "touching her". she asked him to stop but he persists. She says she has been afraid to come forward because she is afraid of what her husband will do or how he will react. I reassured her we would take immediate action if she would file a complaint and that I would be sure to provide any legal help possible i.e. restraining orders etc....
The problem I face is At this time this male manager has an on going workers compensation case going, and he has the attitude he is "untouchable". I know I must protect my female employees, but at the same time I have to protect myself. What are my liabilities with the male employee if I fire him? Company policy is Zero tolerance when it pertains to sexual harrassment
Sorry for the long story
any help will be appreciated
NiceGuy

Under the circumstances, you can terminate for cause based on sexual harassment, especially if you investigate and find it credible. However, with the worker's comp thing, it may still go onward depending on the nature of the injury and the type that it is be it temporary or permanent partial disability. Workers comp would continue based on past injury only, with no future employment. So what would likely occur is that the recommendation for treatment will go on and so will pay til the end of the disability, then that is the end. The problem is that the workers comp matter has vested so to speak based on what you are saying. There is the possibility also of a workers comp settlement, but I would recommend ensuring the worker has counsel before entering into that, and that may be a way to resolve all matters with this sexual harasser employee. Consult an employment attorney also before acting. This is tricky, not impossible.

No good deed by HR goes unpunished. First of all, the law causes you to take action to stop the harassment, which may or may not include termination. Second, think of having to defend this matter in court...that you chose to ignore this female victim because you were afraid of this male employee; Third, while it is good that you are concerned about the risk, re: the workers compensation claim, you must also be concerned about the risk in not doing anything on this claim. What you should do is conduct an investigation, ensuring that you are doing everything that you can to get at the truth. If there are any witnesses, it would be the best so that if the man later comes back to file a retaliatory claim against you, you have documented proof. If you are stuck with a he said /she said, then you must still document both files...one to him saying that the investigation was concluded and although there is no evidence of discrimination, you feel it is appropriate to remind him of the policy against harassment. You would send the same message to her. You should then conduct discrimination and harassment training as soon as possible, if you haven't done it for awhile.

Just an update to this problem
The female complaintant would not file a complaint and said she would deny everything(she is afraid of what her husband would do to the harasser) but she did file a complaint that a physical threat was made.....So as of 06/2005
the harasser is on administrative leave due to his non compliance with his case......I guess there is always a means to an end.... thank you all for your help N.G.

niceguy, if you are aware that SH may be taking place the company is legally liable to address the situation, even if nobody makes a formal complaint. All the law requires is that the employer know about it or should have known about it.

Your warehouse manager sounds like a real piece of work. It would be worth the money to consult with an employment law attorney with an aim towards terminating his employment while minimizing any exposure the company might have under WC statutes for wrongful termination. If you can document and demonstrate sufficient misconduct, then if the manager should allege that he was fired in retaliation for bringing a WC claim, you'll have ample proof to refute that.

What you should be aware of is that this is undoubtedly not the first employee he has sexually harassed, nor will it be the last if you bring him back to work.

Good luck.