If an employee was sexually harassing female employees, should the company do something or should it not babysit employees?
Glad you agree.
Sexual harassment is not a crime, it's a workplace tort (and always a tort by the employer, regardless of who the active harasser is.) It's true that some acts which would also potentially make the employer liable for sexual harassment are also crimes, but it's also worth noting that, even where an act creating potential harassment liability is also a crime, that (1) the burden of proof in a criminal case is higher than for a civil tort, so there is no guarantee, even with the same evidence and the same jury that a criminal conviction would be rendered when there would be harassment liability, (2) the police and public prosecutor have no obligation to take action even if there is a crime, whereas the company does have an enforceable legal obligation to take effective action to prevent harassment, (3) even if the police take action and the prosecutor files charge, and a conviction eventually results, criminal process takes time during which the accused may be free, and, in the absence of effective action by the employer, continue harassing and increasing the employers harassment liability.
So the company should just call the Police and wash their hands or be responsible and have an appropriate sexual harassment policy, train their employees on how to identify and deal with sexual harassment, have a clear procedure on how to file and deal with complaints.
Maybe you will call such things "babysitting", I say its being responsible.
"should the company do something or should it not babysit employees?"
The company is doing something by not babysitting the employees. Not baby sitting the employees is the only correct option here.
>So the company should just call the Police and wash their hands
Yes they should call the police, and it's not "washing their hands". Sexual harassment is a criminal offence. Your employer shouldn't be "handling" that like they shouldn't be "handling" rape.
>have an appropriate sexual harassment policy, train their employees on how to identify and deal with sexual harassment, have a clear procedure on how to file and deal with complaints.
The policy is the law. Adults shouldn't have their employer telling them that sexual harassment is a no no.
>Maybe you will call such things "babysitting", I say its being responsible.
The responsible thing is to involve the authorities when one of your employees is committing a crime. Simple as that.
No its not. If you ever work in big companies you will know that.
> Adults shouldn't have their employer telling them that sexual harassment is a no no.
Yes they do,
Assuming you are a male, you might be unknowingly harrasing female employees just by having a boys will be boys attitude. So an employer has to give you training and explain you why its wrong.
Some people use throwaway accounts to harass other employees on social media, if your employer gave you the training you would have learnt that is wrong.
> The policy is the law.
Exactly, now you get it, the company may get into legal trouble if they dont have an official policy or they make it super difficult to report complaints.
> The responsible thing is to involve the authorities when one of your employees is committing a crime. Simple as that.
No its not simple as that, just telling the victim to go to authorities is just washing your hands, a responsible company also makes sure that victims can file a complaint with the management. Not all victims want to file a police complaint, that does not mean they the abuser should get away with harassment. The company should still investigate and fire the abuser and then file a complaint with the victim's permission.
These are some of the aspects which you will understand if you been through some training.
