#MeToo-inspired platform takes aim at workplace harassment

Employees and HR professionals may have a new tool to address workplace harassment.

The platform allows employees to file complaints against an individual or an entire company and launch an independent third-party investigation. HR also can use the service to monitor false allegations, handle misinformation and avoid costly litigation.

The service, known as the BDA Ethics and Compliance Solution, was launched in March by Beau Dietl, a 15-year NYPD homicide detective, who became a private investigator 30 years ago.

Dietl, chairman and CEO of Beau Dietl & Associates who goes by "Bo," isn't just an expert investigator, he's an actor and a one time New York City mayoral candidate. He played the arresting officer in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film "Goodfellas," played himself in 2013's "Wolf of Wall Street," and was even portrayed by actor Stephen Baldwin in the 1998 film adaptation of his autobiography "One Tough Cop."

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Dietl wanted to develop a way employees could feel safe at work. He recognized that complaints can explode into larger problems because employees were too afraid to complain.

Once described as Fox News' "tough cop," he was hired to discredit those accusing Fox News chairman Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Additionally, in 2016 the Daily Beast quoted him as saying that most of these cases are “political correctness” run wild.

Companies that offer employees a way to report any kind of misconduct are more profitable than firms that do not utilize these kinds of tools, according to a 2018 study on the use and efficacy of internal whistleblower systems.

More than a year ago, a series of high-profile allegations of sexual misconduct against moguls in Hollywood launched the #MeToo movement. Victims of harassment in all forms began to come forward with their stories in industries from healthcare to tech and other wide-ranging professions. With HR departments left wondering what to do next, a slew of tools aimed at helping companies combat the #MeToo workplace issue have cropped up.

One app — Vault Platform — gives employees a way to document and report sexual harassment using blockchain technology to provide a safe space. Other tech enabled tools such as AllVoices, Bravely and Callisto, have launched over the last few years.

Now, the BDA Ethics and Compliance Solution platform wants to offer employers and employees another means to deal with harassment by utilizing and independent, third party service that will launch an investigation into the allegation.

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A demonstrator holds a sign reading "#Me Too" during a rally against sexual harassment in Shinjuku, Tokyo, on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Japan's finance ministry determined on April 27 that its former top official sexually harassed a female reporter. Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg

“No one should be the victim of any kind of harassment where the fear is so great that they can’t report it,” Dietl said. “You should be able to go to work and not worry.”

Still, 76% of non-manager employees who experienced sexual harassment didn’t report it because they were afraid of retaliation or that nothing would change within the company, according to a 2018 SHRM report on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Fear of not being believed is also a factor that keeps victims silent. Cases where there are mountains of evidence like texts, emails, and voicemails can be pretty cut and dry, according to Gregory Kirschenbaum, an attorney with the plaintiff only firm Phillips & Associates. But it’s the he-said she-said cases that can cause victims the most damage.

With those kinds of cases the instinct is not to believe the accuser, Kirschenbaum says. But then you have to ask the question of why that person would come forward with these allegations knowing the scrutiny victims are often placed under?

“For somebody to come forward and put themselves out there is a determination of truth,” Kirschenbaum says. “There’s no incentive to come forward unless something happened.”

The BDA Ethics and Compliance Solution platform works by using a secure website and keystroke encryption. The complaint — which can be filed anonymously if the person prefers — is then routed to Dietl & Associates.

“There are ethics and compliance management tools available for intake of complaints,” says Dietl. “There are also investigations undertaken by hired law firms. However, BDA’s is the only independent, third-party ethics and compliance platform that seamlessly handles the intake and also conducts investigations by title VII investigators.”

Once the investigation is complete the findings are turned over to the company and it is up to the business to decide what to do with it. However, this could be a drawback to Dietl's plan to be a safe space for employees, if the company ultimately decides not to do anything with the information.

“We develop our reports on the matter, notify our clients, and empower them to make choices,” Dietl says.

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Workplace culture Workplace management Workplace safety and security Diversity and equality Sexual harassment Employee engagement HR Technology
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