I worked in Virginia for a city government agency. In this capacity, I worked closely with a man from another agency within the same city who would make snide sexual comments, try to massage my shoulders, and joke sexually, to name a few instances. Two co-workers of mine (both male) overheard some comments he made and approached me about how inappropriate he was being in the office setting. I was quite upset as I worried about the effect it might have on my job if I complained. They went to our main boss who called me into his office, spoke to me about it and told me he would speak with him about it. He did speak to him and it stopped.
Our main boss also mentioned that in (quote)"the environment this man is in seems to condone this type of behavior although that is no defense." This boss is an elected official in our city making this comment.
My question is this: Shouldn't he have had a more formal reporting of these incidents to our HR department? Incidentally, everyone involved are lawyers.
Thanks for your input.

Shouldn't he have had a more formal reporting of these incidents to our HR department? I don't know what is meant by a more formal reporting. A complaint is a complaint and as long as your employer took steps to stop the harassment, which it seems he did by your post then the employer did what they were supposed to by law.

What I meant by mroe formal reporting to the HR department would be following the city guidelines and procedures set forth. I read a lot on this website about the laws that govern discrimination, harassment, etc. So my thought on it was he should have followed the procedure set forth by HR and not just been able to determine on his own what is considered enough of an infraction to report it.
With all due respect, if I could take a quick moment to address all of the people who so kindly volunteer their time to answer us- the reason anyone writes on this website is to gain insight and knowledge that we didn't already have. I have been disheartened at times at the approach some of the people have had in making it sound as though everyone is out to sure somebody and how indignant some of the people answering have been at what we already feel stupid and unknowledgeable about. I am sure that someone will answer me and tell me to just not refer to this place again then.
I fully expect that. But thanks to all anyway who have answered people and given of their time.

We don't know what exactly your procedures state, but in all likelyhood, your boss could have consulted with HR. The bottomline here is that the issue has been dealt with and the harassment has stopped.

One last question regarding this.....had the harassment NOT stopped after this good ole boys' chit chat, what proof could I have ever had that a prior complaint had been lodged? It was simply an informal meeting in which my boss stated that he would speak with him and tell him to stop. I just thought that to protect everyone, it should have been handled differently.

Whether it SHOULD have been handled differently or not is beside the point. The complaint was handled effectively.

Also, you are not entitled to the details of any prior investigations or warnings he may have received. Just as he isn't entitled to know about any warnings or discussions there may have been about your past behavior. If the behavior didn't stop, then you could reasonably report it to HR or up the chain of command.

Not everything that a manager addresses with their employee needs to make its way to HR. That is why there are managers in the first place. They handle the policy administration and workplace issues when they are still small. It's only if those attempts fail that it needs to go any further.