Commentary: A recent federal district court from Illinois graphically demonstrates the benefits of a prompt response when an employer receives an internal harassment complaint from an employee. In this case, a female employee complained that two male employees had harassed her. She claimed that a coworker constantly harassed her starting in September 2010 and continuing into 2011, by doing such things as talking about the size of his genitals and wanting to have sex with her. She also alleged that one of her supervisors harassed her by making a number of suggestive comments to her. She claimed the supervisor’s conduct started sometime between June 2010 and March 2011.
The female employee first made an internal complaint about the alleged harassment in March of 2011 to one of her supervisors. At that time, however, she reported only the alleged harassment by her coworker. The supervisor told her to fill out a form regarding her complaint and to turn it in to him or a higher level supervisor. He also told her to “think about” whether she wanted to turn in the form because the male employee she was complaining about “had a wife and three kids and would be unable to work for [the employer] if she turned it in.”
