Academia is a Workplace Too: Workplace Harassment Prevention Not Working - Harassment Continues to be a Problem

Why Should You Attend:

• Are you current?
• Do you keep up to date on laws that impact your employees and students?
• You know that the American Disabilities Act and Title VII have expanded with something called an accommodation meeting, but what does that require?
• You heard that a company was required to pay a plaintiff an additional $1,000,000 because the company didn’t do harassment training—could that be true?
• Are you current about the ADAAA and its legal requirement to provide accommodations?
• What about the changes to the ADEA?
• How does GINA impact your workplace?

Then, let’s add the whole issue of bullying and how that impacts absenteeism and turnover. Often the bully or harasser is not held accountable and the misconduct continues resulting in poor morale, costly lawsuits, and a drop in productivity. Retaliation complaints are now the most common complaint going to the EEOC. The term harassment is a phrase that has legal meaning but in popular culture has become such a catchall that confusion abounds as to its actual premise. The term bullying is misunderstood and unrecognized by the target, management, and HR. This program will clarify the realities, myths and misconceptions around these sensitive and complex issues.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• To define sexual and other protected class harassment as it relates to federal and state laws
• To discuss bullying
• To identify the effects of harassment and bullying on the victim, the work unit, the organization, the harasser
• To discuss new discrimination and harassment court decisions
• To discuss the Affirmative Defense (AD) and your responsibility to reduce liability via AD
• To explore the relationship between bullying and protected class harassment
• To explore HR and management’s legal and ethical responsibilities in prevention and intervention of bullying and harassment
• To identify steps to take if you are harassed or bullied
• To discuss training requirements
• To list prevention strategies

Who Will Benefit:

• Human resources in all educational facilities
• Deans
• University vice presidents
• Senior leadership
• Faculty

Dr. Susan Strauss
Workplace and Education Harassment and Bullying Consultant, Strauss Consulting

Dr. Susan Strauss is a national and international speaker, trainer and consultant. Her specialty areas include management/leadership development, organization development, communication, and harassment and bullying. She is an expert witness for discrimination and harassment lawsuits. She trains and consults with business, education, healthcare, law, and government organizations from both the public and private sector.

Dr. Strauss has authored over 30 book chapters, books, and articles in professional journals. She has been featured on 20/20, CBS Evening News, and other television and radio programs as well as interviewed for newspaper and journal articles.

She has a doctorate in organizational leadership, is a registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and human services, a master’s degree in community health, and a professional certificate in training and development.

Topic Background:

Working in education you hear a lot about Title IX, but what about the other laws that impact the civil rights of your employees on your campus. It’s tough to stay current on both educational and workplace laws. You have been in human resources or management for years. Your plate is full—too much to do and know in your increasingly stressful job. You are expected to stay current in discrimination and harassment case law for all the federal and state protected classes.

It seems like an unending responsibility. You remember hearing something in the news about a change in the pregnancy law, but can’t remember what it was. You have a company wellness program and have heard that employees are suing for discrimination based on the incentives offered for those who take part in the program.

The EEOC has settled its first sexual orientation lawsuit. OCR protects transgender people. Transgender employees are protected by Title VII, or are they. It’s not just sexual harassment anymore, but harassment of all protected classes that creates new challenges and responsibilities for educational organizations. The 2016 EEOC Study on Harassment shows harassment is still a big problem in America’s workplaces, which includes education. The EEOC study found that workplace training programs are focused too much on liability and not on prevention, are inadequate in altering behavior, and are not accompanied by other prevention strategies within the workplace. Your Wellness programs are under new laws regarding GINA and the ADAAA.

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