Whether the harasser should be told to stop before a complaint is raised internally is a matter of how comfortable you feel about raising the issue with the harasser. Particularly if you think that the harasser might not be aware that conduct is offensive, you should consider addressing the issue directly with the harasser. However, if you believe that telling the harasser that the conduct is offensive will not stop the conduct, or will subject you to retaliation, you should raise your objection to an alternative person.

Company policies should contain a provision for an alternative person to whom a complaint can be raised initially, if the victim does not want to directly address the harasser. A failure to offer such an alternative might be a good reason for not making a complaint to the company before going outside the company.

Retaliation for having complained about sexual harassment is unlawful. However, as a practical matter, retaliation is a very real concern. Many people are not able to hear criticism about themselves without becoming angry at the person who criticized them. Also, the fact that you have complained about a co-worker can make other co-workers angry at you. Often this retaliation takes the form of the victim being ostracized from the group.

After you have made a complaint, the company should continue to check with you to see whether the conduct has stopped, or if there has been any retaliation. However, employers are not always this careful. If there is retaliation, a new complaint should be brought.

You should expect that the harasser will be informed of the complaint. The company will say that the harasser needs to be confronted in order to effectively correct the matter. The harasser is likely to claim that he or she is innocent, and is entitled to know the details of the complaint in order to make a defense.

An investigation should be confidential. However, no investigation is completely confidential. For example, if witnesses are interviewed and give statements, they will become aware that there has been some concern expressed over the conduct. People talk, and it is very difficult to prevent gossip, even if employees are instructed not to talk about the matter. Even if the investigator promises you that the information will go no further, don't count on it.

At a minimum the company will disclose the results of the investigation to anyone they believe needs to know the information. Who is told will depend upon the company's policies.

You also should be aware that it is very unlikely that you can discuss a matter of inappropriate conduct with someone with authority, such as a human resources or other manager, and not have the matter go further. Many companies have policies that complaints of sexual harassment must be investigated, and that anyone who becomes aware of a complaint must report it to the appropriate person for investigation. This means that if you just want to talk to the human resources manager to ask his or her opinion on what happened or how it should be handled, you might end up with a full investigation of the matter.

You should be asked about the incident without the harasser being present. You most likely will be asked to describe what happened, where it happened, when, and who witnessed the incident. You should expect to be asked whether there have been any similar incidents in the past, and if so, to provide detailed information about them. You will probably be asked to give a written statement.

You should be asked to provide the names of anyone else whom you believe would have relevant information. You also should be asked what you would like to see happen as a resolution of the matter.

After others are interviewed, you might be asked additional questions, or for clarification of some points.

At the end of the investigation, a decision should be made about what happened. If there was inappropriate conduct, the next decision to be made is what action will be taken to avoid a recurrence of this conduct.

An investigation should begin as soon as the complaint is made. The company should be permitted a reasonable amount of time to investigate. What is reasonable will depend upon the number of witnesses, their availability, etc. The great majority of investigations should take less than a month.

You are entitled to inquire as to the status of the investigation. If there is no investigation, or if it is not be done in a timely manner, you should consider contacting a lawyer.

Yes. Indeed, typically harassment is more likely to occur when the victim and harasser are alone.

You each would testify about what happened. An investigator, judge or jury would look for indications as to whose testimony is more believable, such as who is consistent in describing the incident, and whether the testimony is clear or vague and evasive. Also, if it can be shown that the harasser has lied in another part of his or her testimony, this can be considered in determining how truthful his or her testimony is on the particular incident.

There often is other evidence which helps establish your credibility. For example, a court can consider whether you told anyone about the incident shortly after it happened. There also might be witnesses who could testify that you and the harasser were alone together (if there is a denial that this happened), or that you later refused to be alone with the harasser.

Part of the investigator's and your lawyer's job is to help you identify and present the important evidence.

The law requires an employer to take appropriate corrective action to prevent harassment. This means that the level of discipline should be designed to bring about a change in conduct. For example, the first time that someone tells an off-color joke, the offending person might be given a verbal warning. If the conduct continues, the level of discipline should increase, because obviously the harasser has not understood that such conduct is unacceptable. It is rare for someone to be fired for sexual harassment, unless the conduct has been egregious (such as groping the victim), or repeated.

How you want the matter resolved is often considered, but ultimately the company makes its own decision as to what action is taken.

Companies often refuse to tell you the exact discipline imposed. You might only be told that appropriate corrective action has been taken.

Because companies usually are unwilling to share this information, you should consider whether it is worth the battle to obtain it. For example, if the misconduct was a few comments, which stop after the complaint, you might accept not knowing what discipline was imposed. However, if there has been a very serious incident, such as grabbing your breasts, you may need to know more about the action taken, in order to feel safe in the environment.

First, quitting usually is not an option. Unless you have another job lined up, you usually cannot afford financially to quit your job.

Second, the courts have set a very high standard for a victim to prove that he or she was forced to quit because of harassment. This means that you cannot count on being able to recover your lost wages for time out of work if you quit and file a lawsuit.

Many people visiting this website are from states other than California. Our firm is located in Northern California, near San Francisco: we are only equipped to deal with legal matters in this region. The law varies quite a bit from state to state, so you should contact an experienced lawyer licensed in your state to obtain legal advice and properly pursue your rights. One source that provides a national referral list is:

National Employment Lawyers Association
www.nela.org

To obtain their lawyer member list in your state, visit their website.