Court: Harassment complaints need a prompt response

Supervisors are busy and don’t always have time to address employees’ concerns right away. But a recent ruling gives managers a stern warning:
When the situation involves harassment, you’d better find time to deal with it.
The case involved a woman who was harassed by an employee in another department.
Among other things, the co-worker e-mailed pornographic images to the woman and called her on her office phone, trying to engage in sexually explicit conversations.
When she complained to her boss, she said he told her that he was too busy dealing with an angry client to do anything at the moment.
She approached him a few more times, but he told her he’d get back to her after the mess with the customer was cleaned up. Meanwhile, the harassment continued.
After about a week, the manager finally did something. The co-worker was issued a warning and was eventually fired for ignoring it.
The woman sued, claiming the supervisor failed to respond to her complaints soon enough.
The court ruled in her favor. The boss may have been busy, but he should have responded to the employee’s complaints.
If he had forwarded the complaint to HR immediately, the company could have avoided a lot of trouble.
Cite: Cerdeira v. Martindale-Hubbell