The Lochness Cotton Company Sexual Harassment

The Lochness Cotton Company's sexual harassment?

You be the judge!

1. Take a position on whether you believe there is or is not sexual harassment; or whether the facts given are inconclusive; and why?

The facts given are inconclusive and one of the prevailing reasons is that no overwhelming evidence has surface to support either side. Sexual harassment is a civil offense that is handle in civil courts if lawsuits are filed and thus falls under the preponderance of evidence rule. Basically, it means that whichever side produces enough evidence in there favor wins. Both Dana and Alex have convincing arguments for their respective case; nevertheless, it is just that, two arguments. These arguments lack any hard facts, which puts in question the weight of each argument. Furthermore, one of the statements is from an employee who is a friend of the accuser who only acknowledges having after-the-fact information. The other statement is from a long time friend of the employee who is accused of harassment. If there was more information about facts in the case such as the porn that was left in Dana's desk and also if Alex's personnel file was available because he started to work for the company only approximately five years after Title VII was passed. Thus Alex and his co-worker, Lee may view certain behavior as acceptable especially with no known evidence of a diversity training program to train employees otherwise.

2. Whether or not you believe sexual harassment has taken place, it is clear the situation must be defused. Develop a proposal for handling the situation?

First, CEO Henry MacDougall needs to make a formal statement concerning corporate compliance dealing with Title VII and have the company's attorney draft a corporate compliance policy dealing with title VII. Second, the corporate compliance policy dealing with title VII should be administered to all employees in a formal training setting. This policy should be incorporated into the employee manual and all new employees should have this policy explained to them in the new hire orientation. Third, a system of communicating violations of this policy should be set-up. The system should be a discrete way of communication allowing for anonymous complaints and thorough records of complaints should be documented