Resources for Harassment Law

As a business owner, it is your responsibility to ensure that your employees know and follow the laws on harassment in the workplace. In order to maintain a comfortable and productive working environment, your employees must follow all of the workplace harassment laws.

When most people think of harassment in the workplace, sexual harassment is probably what comes to mind. However, harassment law protects employees from all areas of harassment, including racial, verbal and sexual harassment. To prevent all types of harassment, employees should be trained on federal harassment laws. It's also important to educate employees on the true definition of harassment and what types of acts meet those standards, including:

1. Leering or staring;

2. Making negative comments about a person's gender, skin color, ethnic background, sexual orientation, handicap or religious beliefs;

3. And telling inappropriate jokes or sending inappropriate emails.

Train employees on harassment laws

To ensure all of your employees know what constitutes harassment in the workplace, make sure you offer up-to-date training.

Post information for reporting harassment

To keep your business free of harassment, your employees should know how to report harassing behaviors and feel comfortable doing so.

Consult with a harassment lawyer

Harassment lawyers have a wealth of information regarding harassment law. Due to the amount of cases they've handled, business owners can benefit from their knowledge.

• Do research on your state's harassment laws. Because each state has different requirements regarding harassment training, it's important to make sure your training covers all of the essential materials.