By Brian McDonough, Human Resources and Compliance, Synergy Restaurant ConsultantsMost employees don’t complain until they are harmed, but once they believe that they have been harassed, they look around for others who have had similar experiences. Susan, a current employee, doesn’t mind when the male servers flirt with her—after all, she is young, attractive and single. But then the manager decides to jump into the fun and now Susan is getting concerned. He’s a married man, why would he do this? Did she give him some sign that she was interested? “Perhaps he isn’t what I thought he was; maybe this has happened to others.” Susan starts asking around and hears a lot of . . . “now that you mention it, that manager has been awfully friendly with me also.” This is not uncommon, unfortunately. Susan, as with others, doesn’t want to lose her job so she feels safer lodging a complaint as part of a group—it’s much harder for the employer to fire all of them is the thought.In 2011, there were 11,300 claims of Sexual Harassment filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for that year alone, with a payout of over $52 million. This is a problem—not just because of the number of claims but also the dollar amounts that continue to be paid out for these complaints to basically go away.Traditionally, the issues are a lack of training and/or a lack of documentation. If the harassment occurred as an “independent act” by an employee/manager, that’s one thing (and usually not costly) but when the employer “knew or should have known” about the harassment, the employer is liable. A majority of payouts for these complaints are predicated on a lack of systems in the establishment to address these problems.Simple systems can be put in place to help solve these problems. Let’s explore a few:

1. A thorough employee handbook: The Employee Handbook for all employees (including managers) should include guidelines about acceptable behavior.
2. Complete and documented orientation: Some of the elements of orientation, including the Employment Application signed and the I-9 completed, should include information about Rules & Regulations within your restaurant(s). They should also include information services (such as places to file a complaint) and specifics on uniforms, parking for the location, and particulars on the normal process for communication. Remember that for some employees, this is a first job, and this type of information will be completely new to them.
3. Employee files that include documentation for unacceptable performance/behavior: These files need to be maintained and locked up; remember they contain Social Security numbers (on the I-9), which must be protected.
4. A published phone number for employees with concerns to report any issues: An 800-number or a website form can suffice. This is very important to the defense of a Sexual Harassment complaint. If you have an avenue for employees to complain and an individual did not complain, as the employer you have much less liability.

5. A department, group or person fully trained on how to handle complaints: No extensive training needed here, especially if you have a backup for addressing these issues. A law firm can do it for you, but this is expensive.Solving sexual harassment problems before they happen isn’t difficult or expensive. Synergy can assist with revising policies and creating the documentation and training necessary to ensure that a problem like this doesn’t happen in your restaurant organization.Check photo credit: Pete CC by 2.0