Sexual harassment has been defined as "bullying of a sexual nature". Later this summer, for the first time in Ireland, definitive and explicit guidelines concerning sexual harassment are expected to pass into legislation under the Employment Equality Act 1997.
The Bill has particularly wide-reaching implications for employers. As a spokesperson for the Employment Equality Agency puts it, companies will be responsible for the "atmosphere of the work place". Employers will be liable for any and all sexual harassment in cases that go to court. Their main defence will be that they have in place active, formal and informal procedures to deal with and prohibit sexual harassment.
Employers will be held responsible for sexual harassment outside working hours when it involves members of their company because such encounters are likely to be brought back into the workplace and impinge upon conditions there. Furthermore, management have a duty to ensure that staff are not sexually harassed by clients or service providers to the business, for the obvious reason that these, too, can detrimentally alter working conditions.
To tie in with the unambiguous emphasis the Employment Equality Bill 1997 will place on employers to develop a real policy on sexual harassment, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) has drawn up an award-winning training programme, entitled Counting The Cost, specifically geared towards educating management and human resources in this area.
"The last survey we conducted in 1993 indicated that 70 per cent of Irish businesses had sexual harassment difficulties," says Olive Braiden, director of the DRCC. "We would hope that things have improved since then. Unfortunately, many companies tend to be reactive rather than proactive." Years of counselling victims of sexual harassment who feel they have no one to turn to in their job has taught the DRCC that businesses only sit up and pay attention, as Olive Braiden says, when something hits their own pocket. Sexual harassment has a devastating effect on the victims - conversely, the harasser also - but it can destroy the morale of the workforce and ruin a company's reputation into the bargain.
"Staff can become factionalised and take sides when an issue of sexual harassment comes to light," maintains Angela McCarthy, a DRCC trainer on the Counting The Cost course. "Businesses feel they're cutting their expenses by ignoring the kind of specialist help we offer. They'll feel the pinch, though, when employees call in sick, or leave, because they can't take it any more.
"An integral part of our programme is `How To Handle An Investigation'," continues McCarthy. "We even have guidelines on the right and the wrong questions to ask victims of sexual harassment. The impact on the victim is paramount. Nevertheless, the Bill spells out the legal and moral obligations that the accused receives natural justice and due process as well."
"Sexual harassment is still terribly misunderstood," concludes Olive Braiden. "The intention is the same as bullying but there's a deeper dimension to it that makes it difficult to report. It touches on that private part of a person's life: their sexuality. In order to teach, management has to learn."
