Is This Sexual Harassment ?

[hatelilpeepees]

So at one of our local municipal 911 services, a double-male crew was posting in between calls, 2 weeks ago, and decided to take advantage of local wi-fi to surf the internet using the company laptop.  Unfortunately one of them (maybe both) thought porn would be a good thing to watch while they were bored.  At some point they put the laptop away and thought they had closed it down.  They did not get another call before end of shift.  As the new crew comes on-duty and begins to log in for their shift, the porn page pops up, and from what I hear, it was not your typical porn, and was very disgusting by almost anyone's standards (I have to say, after I went to the site, I was even shocked and that is hard to do).  The person who was signing in was a very religous female, and was quite offended by what she saw, and immediately showed it to a supervisor.

So I figure, the guy will get written up or suspended for violating the county's porn policy, but instead he was fired, and the rumor is that the official charge was sexual harassment (can't say for sure since I do not work there, can only go by rumor mill for now).

As a manager, I do not see this a sexual harassment, as he did not intentionally leave it there for her, nor did he view it in her presence.  To me, this is the same as if one of the guys dropped a playboy out of his locker by mistake.  Am I missing something here ????

Edited November 21, 2011 by hatelilpeepees

[HERBIE1]

Depends on your policies. For us- and most places- the answer is yes. These days, a good working definition for harassment is essentially anything that makes someone feel uncomfortable. Which means someone who overhears a lewd/sexist/inappropriate joke- told to a 3rd person and the offended person happens to hear it qualified. Someone sees an offensive picture inside someone's personal locker- qualifies. If you look at the actual laws regarding this, they are very loose, very general, and can you would be surprised at the behavior/language/actions that could technically qualify as harassment.

So technically I agree with you this wasn't harassment, but it could be thought of as creating a hostile work environment- a related concept. Obviously this conduct probably violated a bunch of company rules, and may also involve federal statutes. If you receive your calls electronically over the computer, the FCC may have language on this as well.

Should the person be terminated? Seems extreme to me, but I also don't know what- if any- their disciplinary record with the company may be- meaning progressive discipline may easily justify the company's actions. In today's world, you need to be ULTRA careful of what you say and do as nearly anything can be construed as an actionable offense.

(Missed a couple words...)

Edited November 21, 2011 by HERBIE1

[paramedicmike]

Herbie's pretty much on target. Sexual harassment doesn't have to be directed at a particular individual for it to be considered as such. If a third party overhears or sees something s/he doesn't like that's all it takes.

Should the employee have been fired? From a management perspective the answer is absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt yes. He couldn't be fired fast enough. This bonehead opened up the employer to huge sexual harassment and hostile work environment claims. These charges are very expensive and, given the wide variability in the interpretation of the laws, very difficult to defend against. The employer needs to set the precedent up front that such behaviour is not acceptable, frowned upon, unprofessional, not in line with company practices/standards et cetera. So, in an effort to defend against a lawsuit the accused are usually terminated.

Have you had no training in this at all? This is basic management information. How you can become a manager without going through some sort of hostile work environment/sexual harassment training that would have answered this question for you is something I can't quite fathom.

edit: just cleaned up the presentation. no contextual changes made.

Edited November 21, 2011 by paramedicmike

[mobey]

It amazes me too that you have to ask....

I dunno if the US is different, but here you don't get told twice.

If I say to you "Please don't swear around me", the very next time you do - it is harrassment.

That said: If the manager ever said (like in a policy meeting) that viewing pornographic material at work would be considered sexual harrassment of the co-workers, then that is what it is.

Sounds like you may be one of those managers who may have to learn a hard lesson at some point.

[HERBIE1]

I should also add that this person could easily file a complaint with the EEOC and as paramedicmike mentioned, this means a BIG MONEY fine for the company, as well as damages for the person "harmed".

Full disclosure- I think that in this case the crew that used the company laptop for porn should be severely disciplined, and if your firm does not have a standing policy on harassment and violence in the workplace, they really should.

I also think that in far too many cases, people use EEOC complaints almost as a second income. I know several folks who have sued multiple times and received cash settlements for "questionable" incidences of harassment.

[akflightmedic]

No this does not meet the definition of sexual harassment or hostile work environment. It just meets the definition of stupidity.

The only violation here is IF the company has a policy against surfing porn on the employer provided laptop. And the employer should have filters as well, not that those will stop those who wish to get around them but it does deter the accidental porn site.

They should have been disciplined according to the department's computer usage regs and the progressive discipline policy but definitely not fired. These two have a case for wrongful termination if the company in question has neither established.

It does not matter who signed in after these clowns, male or woman, religious or not...what they did was wrong but it does not construe harassment or hostility unless there is already an established pattern of similar behavior and has been reported previously.

[hatelilpeepees]

hmmmmm, seems we have different opinions on the matter, which is what I am getting here as well.

[Vorenus]

Yeah, I`m with Ak. Sexual harassment seems a bit overstretched.

[Just Plain Ruff]

If the county policy is that no surfing porn and if you are caught you are fired, then you are fired.

It all depends on the computer use policy but the hospital I worked at has a very cut and dried porn policy, get caught and you are gone, no if's ands or buts. I think they have a investigation that goes on first to determine if it was a inadvertant site visit or if the visit was part of a bigger problem/issue.

I had the displeasure of reporting one of my co-workers for watching porn on the computer in the EMS office after asking them to stop. They got terminated as it was a pattern of use.

But seriously, what dilrod doesn't erase his history and clear out the cache after looking at that stuff. When i was researching vivisection for an online class in my masters degree program, I made sure that I erased my history and cache'd websites because I didn't want my wife or son to see some of the images that I was exposed to during my research. Got an A on the paper too.

[systemet]

I'm with ak as well.

What this person did was stupid and unprofessional and they deserve to get in a lot of trouble. However, if there wasn't demonstrated malicious intent, or a history of previous discipline, I don't see how you can fire.

If you have a half-way decent employer then firing should be their last resort option after a step discipline process. You don't want to fire a guy who has a spot-free record for ten years because of a single instance of poor judgment. What you do want to do, is prevent a pattern of poor judgment from developing and being unchecked.