Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
1.Assume you are Gabrielle – what action would you recommend the company take in this situation?
2.Is there anything that the company can do to manage the public relations?
3.Based on these facts, do you think there is any evidence of a breach of directors’ duties – general law or statutory? Hint: are former directors subject to directors’ duties?
A case of sexual harassment in the workplace has been reported to the CEO of the Fox production. As a CEO of the company of Fox Production that is working in the field of print TV and online production[in Australia] and employing several female model the first and foremost duty of the CEO will be to ensure the safety of all the women employees of the organization.
As per the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) the employee Parvey Lichtenstein who is working as a photographer with the company is sexually harassing the women model hired by the company. Parvey Lichtenstein is making unwelcome conduct and making inappropriate remarks to the hired women model and also touching he inappropriately and all these actions are recognized as sexual harassment as per the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).The behavior that has been allegedly done by Parvey Lichtenstein with the hired model is an unlawful behavior as the behavior is a kind of bullying that terrorize a person so much that she fails to behave normally and to take part normally in the social and public activities.
The behaviour of Parvey Lichtenstein is also leads to the violation of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 as he is making a behavior with his fellow women colleagues without thinking of the aspect that his behavior can make them to feel humiliated and traumatized.
Therefore as a CEO of the organization Gabrielle Brown should first advice to the human resource manager Sally Bentham to talk to each of the women employees of the organization individually in presence of a women counselor so that they can easily share their working experiences in the organization and if they are feeling any kind of mental insecurity sand harassment then the issue will also be recorded and will be presented in a report format to the CEO so that necessary measures should be taken for stopping any possible future scope sexual harassment by any of the male employees of the organization.
As a part of taking stringent action against any reported case of sexual harassment the CEO should release a circular regarding the possible disciplinary actions that will be taken against a male employee if it is proved that he was involved in the unlawful act of sexual harassment and such actions involves enquiry & suspension from work at the preliminary stage and in the final stage it may lead to the dismissal and even financial penalty and jail as such kind of unlawful act badly harms the reputation of the of the organization(“Sexual harassment | Australian Human Rights Commission”, 2018).
The Role of CEO Gabrielle Brown
Such kind of action will help the CEO to ensure the mental comfort and security to the women employees of the organization and will also spread the message within the employees that the organization has a zero tolerance policy for the unlawful acts like sexual harassments and is all set to comply with the acts of Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) and Equal Opportunity Act 1984 for preventing the acts like workplace sexual harassment and issue of gender inequality.
In pursuance of the above trait the CEO of the company Gabrielle Brown in consultation of the human resource manager Sally Bentham have dismissed Parvey Lichtenstein who is accused of sexual harassment on acquisition of the violation of the employment contract as well as employees code of conduct that strongly follows the above mention laws in regard of the aspect of sexual harassment in the workplace (“Sexual harassment”, 2018)
The female model employee by the Fox Production who has received abusive behavior which tantamount to sexual harassment not only reported to the human resource manager of the company but he has taken the issues to the media and court and has decided to sue the company for justice with strong legal help even if the company has dismissed the accused person on the basis of the allegation
This action of the lady employee who received the sexual abuse is definitely has dented the image of the company. To recover the image of the company the following actions can be taken for improving the public relation as well as public image of the organization
The organization should share the detail process of ensuring the security to the women employees of the company with the general public so that the general public as well as new employees get the image that the organization is a safe place to work.
The process of offering security to the women employees’ of the organization is as follows:
All the women employees are free to talk with the human resource, manager if they are facing any kind of issue related to sexual abuse or gender discrimination. If the employees do not want to disclose her identity then full support will be given to the person Johnson (2017). .
After receiving the allegation the organization will hold a secret enquiry with respect to the issue and the accused person will be under scanner with respect to his behavior. The whole investigation process will be reviewed by the managers of the division of internal affairs.
Public Relations after a Reported Case
If the allegation is proved then the person will be dismissed from the company just like Parvey Lichtenstein due to the violation of the company code of conduct and employee contract.
In an extreme case the organization can ask for financial penalty and can handover the person top the police if it thinks that such action is legitimate. The financial penalty will be collected with the justification that the person who is making a bad image of the organization by his act among the general public must be punished Talesh (2015)..
The promise of actions to be taken by the organization at the event of a reported case of sexual misconduct at the workplace by publishing a public statement in the different news media will help the organization to establish the fact that the organization is well concerned for ensuring the safety and security of their women employees and the organization works with ethics of showing zero tolerance against the reported cases of sex abuse or gender discrimination. The act of sharing the work culture and working ethics will help the organization to promote as an organization that is run by an efficient sensible and responsible management which is ready to work for the good off their employees.
Thus the action of sharing the point of view of the organization in the context of the current situation of employee abuse will help to redefine the image of the company among the general public as an organization that is all set to offer a healthy and safe working environment to their employees,
As per the Corporation Act 2001 a director has the following responsibilities with respect to his company.
The person should act in good faith and for the best interests of the organization and their employees and for an appropriate purpose
The person should use his power for the delivery of care and diligence to the employees of the organization
The person should avoid any kind of conflict of interest between his personal interest and the Interest of the company
The person should not get involved in any kind of trading if the company becomes insolvent
If the company is going to wound up then a liquidator should be appointed for handling the liquidation operation of the company by the director of the company.
In the present case, the former CEO Eddie Sandow who is also the founder of the organization Fox production is allegedly turned a blind eye on to the activities of the employee Parvey Lichtenstein as he was a skilled photographer and the organization needs good photos to maintain its business reputation. The activities of Parvey Lichtenstein towards the women employees of the organization tantamount to sexual harassment and being aware of the fact the former CEO Eddie Sandow who is also the director of the company ignored the allegation of the women employees. As a result some other employees failed to raise their voice against the sexual abuse and this gave the scope to Parvey Lichtenstein to carry out his abusive activities with other women employees of the orvganizatioin (“Directors’ key responsibilities | ASIC – Australian Securities and Investments Commission”, 2018). All that prove that the former director of the company has failed to use his power for protecting the best interest of the employees of the organization as per the Corporation Act 200.Theregfore this incidence of overlooking the allegation of bad conduct and behavior and sexual harassment against Parvey Lichtenstein by the former director of the company is a sheer case of breach of duties and breach of the law of Corporation Act 2001
References:
Directors’ key responsibilities | ASIC – Australian Securities and Investments Commission. (2018). Retrieved from https://asic.gov.au/for-business/your-business/tools-and-resources-for-business-names-and-companies/asic-guide-for-small-business-directors/directors-key-responsibilities/
Johnson, C. E. (2017). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Sage Publications.
Sexual harassment | Australian Human Rights Commission. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-harassment
Sexual harassment. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch17s18.php
Talesh, S. (2015). Legal intermediaries: how insurance companies construct the meaning of compliance with antidiscrimination laws. Law & Policy, 37(3), 209-239.
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