Preventing Harassment & Discrimination for Managers Course Overview
Workplace harassment remains a pervasive and persistent problem, with the EEOC receiving close to 100,000 charges annually alleging unlawful harassment based on protected classes including sex, race, disability, age, ethnicity, and religion. Countless other incidents go unreported, meaning visible allegations represent only the tip of a very large iceberg. Employers, managers, and supervisors bear heightened responsibility for ensuring workplaces remain free from harassment and discrimination. Unlike general employees, managers are held to higher standards because they exercise authority over others, represent the organization in their actions, and serve as the first line of defense in preventing and addressing workplace harassment.
This course provides managers and supervisors with comprehensive awareness of laws and issues relating to discrimination and bullying in the workplace. It details the specific actions and responsibilities supervisors and managers have for avoiding discriminatory practices associated with race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and physical or mental disability while creating harassment-free workplaces. Managers learn their critical role in responding to harassment incidents, conducting initial assessments, preventing retaliation, and fostering organizational culture that prevents harassment before it starts.
Preventing Harassment & Discrimination for Managers Course Content
Lesson 1: Introduction and Objectives
Why managers need specialized training beyond employee-level training, heightened responsibilities and liabilities for supervisory personnel, organizational commitment to harassment-free workplace, course objectives, importance of manager modeling and enforcement
Lesson 2: Laws and Liability
Federal harassment and discrimination laws, EEOC enforcement authority and remedies, state fair employment practice laws, protected characteristics under federal and state law, employer liability for manager harassment, individual manager liability under some state laws, negligent retention and supervision, constructive discharge, failure to prevent harassment
Lesson 3: The Cost of Harassment
Financial costs, organizational costs, human costs, costs of inaction vs. costs of prevention
Lesson 4: Defining Harassment
Legal definition of harassment, elements of harassment claim, reasonable person standard, hostile work environment vs. mere rudeness or incivility, single severe incident vs. pattern of conduct, subjective vs. objective components
Lesson 5: Is it Harassment?
Scenario-based learning applying harassment definitions, analyzing fact patterns, identifying harassing conduct, distinguishing harassment from legitimate management actions, gray areas and close calls
Lesson 6: Handling Harassment Complaints
Manager’s duty to act upon observing or receiving complaint, immediate response requirements, escalation to HR or senior management, interim measures to protect complainant, continuing obligation to monitor situation, what managers should NOT do
Lesson 7: Retaliation
Definition of retaliation, prohibited retaliatory actions, subtle forms of retaliation, retaliation claims exceed harassment claims in frequency, preventing retaliation, manager liability for retaliation
Lesson 8: Prevention and Culture
Creating harassment-free culture starts with managers, leading by example through professional conduct, setting clear expectations for respectful behavior, addressing inappropriate conduct promptly before escalation, zero tolerance messaging while maintaining proportional discipline, fostering inclusion and respect, open door policy and encouraging reporting, regular communication about harassment policies, training and awareness activities, recognizing and rewarding positive behaviors, addressing problematic employees who create risk
