Obligation to report sexual harassment?

[Anonymous]

Small professional services firm. One of the male partners recently put the moves on a female partner. It was physical and aggressive and he didn't take "no" for an answer until way longer than reasonable. The female partner is upset and furious, but does not want to take further action. Then, it came out that the same partner conducted himself similarly with one of their staff employees. This employee is in a clearly subordinate position and didn't report the incident until the female partner came forward. Clearly, this is unacceptable to everyone in the group, but they do not have a policy on sexual harassment and are struggling to figure out how to handle this. Technically, the subordinate is employed by the parent management company, which manages back-office services for this professional services group as well as several other groups. I think the group clearly has a moral obligation, but what are the legal obligations here? Potential ramifications? If they ask the employee to report the incident to the board of the parent company but she refuses, what then?

[Anonymous]

There are laws about this, whether or not if there is a company policy on sexual harassment. Does the parent company have a policy to follow?

Are you the HR person? An employment law attorney should be consulted about this.

Moral and legal are two completely different things. Legally Michael Vick "paid his debt to society" but morally he hasn't.

[Anonymous]

No, not an HR person! I'm married to another partner in the group. Unfortunately, there are no policies in place to govern reporting obligations. We fully understand that there are moral considerations at play, too, but I was wondering about the legal ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not an HR person! I'm married to another partner in the group. Unfortunately, there are no policies in place to govern reporting obligations. We fully understand that there are moral considerations at play, too, but I was wondering about the legal ones.

I think your spouse should speak to an employment attorney because s/he can potentially be sued as a partner who knows what happened and did nothing. Yes, even if s/he has to pay for an hour-long consult out of their own pocket. That's what I would do if I were in your spouse's position. I would also start looking for a new job, because I wouldn't be able to be a partner with someone abusing their power, and wouldn't be able to stay at a company that condones a partner abusing their power that way.

[Anonymous]

If the partner makes it rain, he gets to have a company-issued mistress. If he's pissed people off then heads will roll real fast.

[Anonymous]

Like the other PP said, sexual harassment is illegal, there doesn't need to be a company policy in place, that's what the law is for. Contact the EEOC and file a report.