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Harassment suits demand
caution, honesty.
Scenario: After months of being relentlessly hassled by the group vice president, a
colleague of yours finally files an internal complaint, alleging a "hostile workplace
environment." Before long, you're called down to human resources to discuss what you
know about the situation involving your co-worker and the boss you share. What to do?
Naturally, much depends on the corporate culture where you work, but experts in the field
say that without question, prudence and honesty should be your watchwords.
"Employees have a legal and ethical obligation to tell the truth of what they
know," says Jonathan Segal, a Philadelphia attorney who specializes in work place
legal issues. "Workers are protected from retaliation if they tell the truth about
what's going on around them."
That sounds good in principle, but what if you're still worried about the fallout from
telling the truth, say, about what your boss is doing to your co-worker? Are you really
protected? Yes, says Segal, again, as long as you carefully restrict your testimony to
what "you've actually seen and heard."
Remember, anything you say during an internal company inquiry could turn up again in an
actual courtroom.
"Being prudent is the best course of action, without question," says John
Sample, a human resources
consultant in Tallahassee, FL. "That means discussing only what you heard and
actually saw, without any coloration or interpretation. It means, 'I saw this,' or 'I
heard that.' End of story."
What if you don't want to cooperate with the probe? You probably should, experts
advise. If you do know something relevant to the situation, you aren't being neutral if
you stay on the sidelines, Segal says. "You stand to hurt someone who is innocent or
fail to help someone who may be twisting in the wind," he says.
Still, what if you just want to stay out of such an investigation? "Technically, a
non-union, at-will employee can be fired for any reason," explains Segal. But most
companies would be very reluctant to discharge a worker for declining to talk about an
internal investigation, he adds.
Persuasion and encouragement are better tools than threatening retaliation. At the same
time, you are protected from retaliation from your supervisor if you do testify. You also
should find out whether your company has a policy on this kind of issue.
The bottom line? It probably makes sense to come forward willingly, but be very cautious
about what you say. Stick to the facts and, above all, don't shade your testimony.
"If what you say is found to be a deliberate falsehood, then that's cause for your
termination," warns Segal.
Reprinted with permission of CareerBuilder.com. CareerBuilder, Inc.
has emerged as the leading provider of E-cruiting (electronic recruiting) services with
the CareerBuilder Network, its pioneering model to provide employers with a choice of the
best career sites on the Web from a single vendor. The CareerBuilder Network is made up of
over 25 leading professional, broad appeal, diversity, and industry career centers.
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