The issue that I have chosen to research for the policy and procedures team is sexual harassment in the workplace. The present policy contained in the associate handbook states the following: Sexual harassment can take many forms. It includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other visual, verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature when a person’s employment with Sears depends on submission to the conduct; submission to or rejection of the conduct affects employment decisions concerning the person; or such conduct unreasonably interface with a person’s work performance or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Any violation of this policy will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. Also, we have a brochure about this issue in the break room. Yearly, there is a focus meeting with every associate to remind them how the company prohibits all forms of sexual harassment. The following paragraphs will discuss the research I found that was missing in our company and information on how to inform our associates about sexual harassment.Sexual harassment, like rape, is not primarily a sexual event. It is an exercise in POWER over another person. The offender achieves a form of dominance by making sexual advances or comments to someone who is not in a positions to respond effectively. The result is often a host of psychological and even physical problem for the target. The federal judges arrived at their decision in two ways. The first way that if an employer made an employees life so miserable that the employee could not take it any longer and quit. The second way states Title VII says employers cannot discriminate with respect to the “conditions” of employment. The company’s definition of sexual harassment is similar to the one that I found in my research on this issue.The area that our company may want to look into is how an associate ...
