Harassment

[Luzarif]

Jurisdiction

Georgia

I have a friend that is being harassed at work. Her male coworker touches her when she doesn't want to be touched, hugs her and kisses her on the cheek. She says her body language should make it clear that she is uncomfortable but she is afraid to say anything because the guy and their boss(female) are really close. She says she has spoken to her boss about how uncomfortable she is with the situation but she brushed it off as "that's just how he is". She is afraid to go to HR because the boss is very well liked within the company and she feels nothing will be done and the boss will stay and make her miserable. Trying to keep this short and concise but this has been occurring for some time and obviously more inappropriate actions are occuring.

 

[Luzarif]

She doesn't want to tell the man's wife for the same reason that she fears the work environment will become more hostile. She says she will address it once she finds another job but I fear it will be viewed as some kind of retaliation. This happens in the workplace environment during business hours.

 

[Zigner]

She doesn't want to tell the man's wife for the same reason that she fears the work environment will become more hostile. She says she will address it once she finds another job but I fear it will be viewed as some kind of retaliation. This happens in the workplace environment during business hours.

If your friend is so concerned, then your friend will need to take action.
Do you intend to force her to do something that she's already decided against? Isn't that just another form of harassment and/or bullying?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

She could file a complaint with the EEOC but it will be weakened by her failure to report it to HR and at least try to handle it inhouse.

This is why companies spend money on HR departments.

 

[zddoodah]

You didn't ask a question, so I'm unsure what the purpose of your post is.

She is afraid to go to HR

That's silly. That's what HR is there for. If your friend doesn't want to use the resources available to her, then she'll have to suck it up and deal with what's happening or quit.

 

[cbg]

Nothing is going to change until she takes action to make it change. She can go to the EEOC but the first thing they are going to ask her is, "what internal actions have you taken to resolve it" and when she says, "Nothing" it is going to seriously harm her claim and may even kill it. If she wants anything to happen she is going to have to report it internally. THEN if it doesn't stop, or if it gets worse, or if she is fired, she will have a much stronger claim with the EEOC than if she just does nothing.