Supervisor Engaging in Inappropriate Conduct

Answer:

As an accomplished Delaware County Employment Lawyer, clients come to me all the time with questions about their supervisor, and what can they do if they are engaging in inappropriate conduct.

If the supervisor is an individual that’s engaging in the inappropriate conduct regarding either bullying or sexual harassment, you must resort to your employee manual.

The usual process would be to tell the employee to report the problem to their supervisor. In this situation, however, this employee is not going to be eager to make a complaint to the person they are accusing of the behavior.

Whether the employee doesn’t want to speak to the supervisor, or they tried but the situation did not improve, you must offer an alternative route to address the problem. This is where your employee manual or handbook comes into play. You need to have a process outlined for dealing with harassment — particularly by a supervisor, since you can’t have the alleged perpetrator making a determination on the complaint.

You must establish an independent situation in which somebody in human resources or somebody else like a vice president or an individual who is familiar with the employee manual and familiar with processes establishes the procedure to make a full and complete investigation and establish the disciplinary process.

You may discipline the supervisor or end up terminating the supervisor. You may end up suspending the supervisor or demoting the supervisor because of the conduct. The key here is you must provide an alternative route for that employee to address the issue other than talking to the supervisor.

This educational blog was brought to you by experienced Employment Attorney Walter J. Timby. Our law firm proudly represents clients throughout Delaware County, as well as Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

If you have any questions regarding what happens if the supervisor of company engaging in inappropriate conduct, please contact our Delaware County employment attorney for a free case evaluation. Let our experience work for you.