Gavin P. writes: "I was recently taken off a project at my office after my female co-worker went to our boss and accused me of sexual harassment. Never over the course of us working together did she ever make mention or express dissatisfaction at how I interacted with her, so how is it possible that I am being penalized for something I had no idea I was doing. To make matters worse, a promotion that I had been told was virtually mine now looks like it may not be mine in the end because of this false accusation. What can I do to put things back on track?"
Sexual harassment is a serious accusation and more often than not such an accusation occurs only after the female co-worker expresses her disdain for the actions of YOU, the accused. However, if any co-worker of yours (male, female, opposite-sex or same-sex) accuses you of sexual harassment without any previous warnings, there is little you can do than stand your ground, recount important details honestly and hope for the best.
That is, unless you have the know-how and access to the e-mail servers of your company's computer systems. Some have been known to create fictitious e-mails and date them weeks prior in which they write sexually-explicit e-mails from the accuser to the accused in an attempt to plant evidence that will prove that any sexual innuendo was obviously mutual. This can be a tricky thing to engineer but if, in fact, the accusation is simply unfounded it is well within your rights to do whatever possible to protect yourself and discredit your accuser.
Ironically, that's just what lawyers are trained to do! Discredit.
As for Gavin's current situation, it can be a frustrating and harrowing experience -- being accused of something you have no conscious knowledge of. That's why my personal advice is to spend as much time with your bosses as possible, attempting to discredit your co-worker and bring her honesty into question. After all, the glass ceiling can motivate some female co-workers to try extremely risque things (including accusing their co-workers of sexual harassment to remove them from the equation) in order to rise up in the ranks.
Hope that helps!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Cat - It's true that 98% of all SH claims are fake and motivated by women who want attention in the workplace. But just in case a claim may be part of the 2% I always recommend that my clients log all their e-mails and keep journals of the women they work with.
Well I now find myself being accused and terminated for sexually harassing an employee that I fired a year ago. The best part is I am a man and my accuser is a man as well. The only difference is I am gay. My company Verizon Wireless terminated my employment based on allegations by this employee from over a year ago. I believe I was part of a settlement because as it stands I am pretty sure this employee is getting his job back. Absolutely no physical evidence was found, all my current, past and present employees were interviewed and nothing was found. I gave consent to have my phone records searched for these supposed text messages that I sent and nothing was found. On 10/29 my company lawyer said to me that they are going to offer a settlement and they would get back to me and then all of sudden on 11.13 I was terminated. Did I mention I am 40 and my position was replaced by someone 15 years younger.
i was recently accussed of sexual harassment..im a married women of three childern and i ask who i was harassing and they told me that a nurse over herd a conversation and made a complaint and they are turning it into a huge deal.. they would not show me any written complaint cause they said this is all hear say... so i am being accussed along with two other co-wokers that work the same shift as me on hear say and gossip.. i do not know what to do? they are trying to use stuff that happen outside of work that have nothing to do with harassment cause we went out for wings..please tell me what to do?
I strongly suggest getting or contacting an employment attorney. Had I done that when I was first accused I would of stood a better chance of fighting the claim. DO NOT LET YOUR COMPANY TELL YOU OTHERWISE...get a lawyer.
Post a Comment