An employer’s human resources department has the goal of protecting the employer. After a sexual harassment victim makes a complaint to management or the human resources department, it is important for sexual harassment victims to realize that they should not necessarily take management’s word in determining whether they have a viable legal claim. The information management gives to an employee who has suffered from sexual harassment will likely be skewed to protect the company.
A manager or human resources director might tell a purported victim of sexual harassment that the victim does not have a case, even if there is a potentially viable claim. A manager might instead acknowledge a victim’s complaint, but tell the victim that management will take care of the problem and that there is no need to get an attorney involved. However, if an employee has been sexually harassed at the workplace, the employee should seek the legal advice of an experienced sexual harassment attorney instead of simply relying on the advice of a potentially biased representative of the employer.
Also, even if management or the human resources director has the best of intentions, managers and human resource directors are not attorneys, and may not understand the complexities involved in this area of the law.
