Hospital Receptionist Harassed By Patient EEOC Sues

 

All employers should be aware of and sensitive to workplace harassment including hospitals. All employees should be aware that they have rights to work in a harassment free environment. The law protects employees from third party persons who are not employees such as: patients, doctors, sales people, clients, and customers). In the typical healthcare setting there are many non-employee people present everyday, therefore problems have the potential to arise almost everyday and do.

 

About the lawsuit: EEOC v Southwest Virginia Community Health System. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged the hospital with violating federal law in which a female employee (receptionist) was sexually harassed by a male patient from April to December 2009 and from June to September of 2010.

 

The receptionist and EEOC allege that the patient harassed her through unwelcome sexual comments including "run away with me", "he was visualizing her naked" and "suggested she have sex with him". The allegations include that the patient harassed the receptionist by phone and in person.

 

What should you do if you find yourself in this position:

1. Firmly tell the harasser that this behavior is unacceptable and they are to stop it immediately.
2. Review your employee handbook/policy & procedure manual for the companies policy on how to proceed with harassment in the workplace and follow that procedure (always in writing).
3. Report the harassment to your immediate supervisor "IN WRITING"
4. If the harassment does not stop send a certified letter to your "HR Dept." explaining the harassment and your reporting this harassment to your supervisor, include a copy of the letter. (Always retain copies any letter you send).
5. As last resort send a certified letter to the "CEO/President/Owner" or "Chairman of the Board of Directors".  This step doesn't really have to be done but no one can ever say you didn't try to follow all internal administration policies before going to an outside agency such as EEOC or Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC).
6. If no satisfaction is reached through all the above steps either consult an employment lawyer or file a complaint with the EEOC or OCRC.

How long do you have to wait between steps?  There is no law or rule. You could do steps 1-5 altogether at once. The purpose is to give the company, hospital, business, etc. time and a chance to correct the problem internally.

What should the company do if they receive notice of an employee being harassed:

1. Employer should have an anti-harassment policy.
2. Employers should routinely update their anti-harassment policy.
3. An employer should be very sensitive to all forms of harassment and react responsibly and quickly to all notices of harassment from an employee.
4. When the hospital, company or business is put on notice by an employee of such harassment or conduct the employer is then responsible to "INVESTIGATE", "TAKE PROMPT ACTION TO STOP THE HARASSMENT OR CONDUCT" even if the person doing the harassment is not an employee.
5. Employers should make all supervisors fully aware that harassment by patients or by non-employees is just as dangerous and serious as by employees.
6. All non-supervisory employees should be routinely made aware of the anti-harassment policy of the hospital, company or business.