Before you answer, consider your policy,the training of your onsite staff, and how prepared you are to act decisively should an employee report the incident.
I happened upon a discussion going on in an Apartment
Management/Maintenance Facebook group the other day where a young woman manager
who lives on site with her children was asking for advice on how to handle two
older male residents where one was hugging and kissing her and the other was
telling her explicit, off-color jokes. The first 40 comments were advising her
to play it off with humor, ignore it (after all, they’re just “dirty old men”
or telling her supervisor because once she tells, it becomes the supervisor’s
problem to solve.
Uh. NO. This is the very definition of sexual harassment and
she should not have to deal with this at work. The Original Poster worried that
they “know where she lives” and she lives alone with her children. Furthermore,
it has been going on for five years. Yes, FIVE YEARS.
Unless you have personally experienced this type of fear,
this type of humiliation, this kind of attention that is unsolicited, unwanted,
and difficult to stop, you may find it hard to understand; it is a situation no
one wishes to be subjected to for one minute, let alone years. This is the
exact reason I left the most personally rewarding and fulfilling career of
teaching. Yes, I reported it. Yes, my attorney issued a tort claim notice to
the school system, yes, they knew about it. Soon everyone in town knew about it.
But I couldn’t erase the fact that it had happened over a period of months. And one day I quit. Just
walked out. It was on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving after having a meeting
with the principal and the Director of Human Resources where I was informed
that he was tenured and would no longer be barred from my classroom. That
essentially, I would have to go forward with my complaint in court and until
then, it would be “business as usual” at the school. By Monday afternoon, I received a phone call
from the Director of Human Resources asking me to return, (apparently the
district’s legal counsel had cautioned against letting me quit like that) and I
was torn.
Pay close attention to the people who don’t clap when you
win.
The day I came back to work, every single teacher,
secretary, principal, paraprofessional, coach, and custodian in the school
stopped by my classroom to say, “Welcome Back!” and to offer words of support
and encouragement. Every one, except the offender/accused and the teacher rep
who taught across the hall from him. So, a small victory in life –
acknowledgement from my peers and support.
I paid close attention to those who clapped and the two
who did not.
If this young manager feels afraid, feels tormented by the
actions of these two residents, and does not feel supported by her Owner to
correct this behavior and put them on notice that their actions constitute
sexual harassment, then how long do you think she will last in this industry? I
doubt that it will be much more than the five years she has suffered already.
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