Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims Kansas

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The Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on a person’s religion, race, sex, color, and national origin. Sexual harassment is one form of discriminatory practice and it is unlawful at both the federal and state levels and applies to both the public and private sector.

Businesses are required to investigate and eradicate unlawful discriminatory behavior within their organizations or face the possibility of serious legal claims. This is why a sexual harassment investigation usually begins with the employer conducting its own investigation into the alleged facts behind the claims. For a company’s internal investigation to be effective, it needs to begin as soon as possible.

Sexual harassment allegations usually cause quite a stir within an organization causing lots of people to begin talking about the event. But unless the witnesses are contacted early on, memories of witnesses fade and people leave their employment.

The accuser in a sexual harassment case usually ends up also being seen as the accused. The work environment is very hostile to an accuser during an investigation. The longer the investigation takes, the longer it will take for the accuser to recover from the event.

Usually once the company conducts its own investigation, if the matter is sufficiently serious, the government will also get their opportunity to perform their own investigation. The employee will need to comply with certain notice requirements and filing of a complaint in order for the government to respond to request for investigation.

Further, should the employee subsequently bring a sexual harassment lawsuit against the employer, in most cases the employee will have been required to report the incident to the EEOC or to the appropriate state agency in charge of enforcing the states employment laws. All filing dates must be strictly complied with or risk losing the legal right to bring a legal claim. It is strongly advised that a lawyer be contacted as soon as possible to preserve and otherwise respond to all applicable notice and statute requirements relating to your claims.

When investigating sexual harassment allegations the agency will begin by first looking look at the circumstances, such as the actual type of sexual advances and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination on the allegations is made from the facts on a case-by-case basis.

Employees often fear retaliation for reporting the violation. It is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on sex or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in the litigation. The employer who retaliates is subject to serious fines, penalties, and substantial damage claims by the accuser, including punitive damages.