Workplace Discrimination and Harassment

Dating back to the late 1800s, common law in the United States defined the employment relationship as "at will," meaning that employers were free to hire and fire at will. Employers could, for example, refuse to hire minorities, segregate the work force, assign unpleasant work to women, and deny such groups opportunities for advancement. That's all changed. Federal and state laws now prohibit discrimination and harassment in the workplace on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, national origin, disability or pregnancy.

Training employees to prevent workplace discrimination and harassment is nothing less than essential. Not only can workplace discrimination and harassment affect employee productivity, it can divert resources from the company's real business. Improper conduct can also lead to company liability for workplace discrimination and harassment. The U.S. Supreme Court has recently established legal standards that employers must meet to avoid — or at least minimize — incidents of discrimination and harassment and avoid liability for punitive damages.

The first steps in meeting these standards are (1) to create an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, and (2) to communicate it to all employees and independent contractors, both full-time and part-time, permanent and temporary. This training program includes a generic policy, which you can use or readily substitute with your company's policy.

Program Summary

There are four versions of the program — two for managers and two for nonmanagerial employees. Some versions include video vignettes, and others are text-only. The manager's version covers the following topics:

• Reasons for concern
• Key federal laws
• Sexual harassment
  • Types of sexual harassment
  • Conduct to be avoided
• Other prohibited harassment
  • Conduct to be avoided
• Employer liability for harassment by employees
• Retaliation
• Responding to Complaints
• Maintaining a respectful work environment

The nonmanagerial employee's version covers the following topics:

• Key federal laws
• Sexual harassment
  • Types of sexual harassment
  • Conduct to be avoided
• Other prohibited harassment
  • Conduct to be avoided
• Retaliation
• Maintaining a respectful work environment

Download Program Summary (PDF, 45kb)