Preventing and handling harassment, for staff and volunteers

This guide is for founders, directors and board chairs of small charities, where staff, volunteers, board members and the people you serve often work side by side, and where nobody may have thought about what happens if someone is mistreated. After reading, you'll know what harassment means under federal law, which employers the main laws cover, why a policy matters even if you're small, how to receive and look into a complaint fairly, and how your state may add its own rules.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you receive a serious complaint, talk to an employment lawyer as early as you can.

What harassment means

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws, describes harassment as "unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex" (its harassment page lists sexual orientation, transgender status and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

The EEOC says harassment becomes unlawful when:

• putting up with it "becomes a condition of continued employment," or
• it's severe or pervasive enough to create "a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive."

The EEOC adds that petty slights and isolated incidents usually don't reach that level unless they're extremely serious. But you don't have to wait for something to be illegal before you act. A charity that stops disrespectful behavior early rarely faces the serious kind.

Who can harass: a supervisor, a co-worker, a board member, a volunteer, or someone who isn't part of your organization at all, such as a client or a visitor. The EEOC says the victim doesn't have to be the person harassed: anyone affected by the conduct can be.

Which laws apply to you

The main federal laws apply by size. The EEOC says:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act cover employers with 15 or more employees.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act covers employers with 20 or more employees.

Many state and local laws cover much smaller employers, sometimes every employer. Two examples:

• New York requires every employer in the state to give employees sexual harassment prevention training every year, along with its harassment policy (see below).
• California's Civil Rights Department says all employers, "regardless of the number of employees," are covered by the harassment provisions of California law, and that employers with 5 or more employees must train staff every two years: 1 hour for non-supervisory employees and 2 hours for supervisors.

Federal employment laws are written to protect employees. Whether they also protect a volunteer depends on the facts. Either way, your policy should protect everyone: staff, volunteers, board members and the people you serve.

Why small charities need a policy anyway

• It protects people. Volunteers and clients, including young people and vulnerable adults, need to know who to tell.
• It protects the charity. The EEOC explains that when a supervisor's harassment creates a hostile environment, an employer can defend itself only by showing it reasonably tried to prevent and correct the behavior, and the employee unreasonably didn't use the options it provided. For harassment by co-workers or outsiders, the employer can be liable if it knew or should have known and didn't act promptly.
• It's a sign of a healthy organization. The EEOC puts it simply: "Prevention is the best tool to eliminate harassment in the workplace."

What a good policy includes

The EEOC encourages employers to make clear that harassment won't be tolerated, set up an effective complaint process, train managers and employees, and act immediately and appropriately when someone complains. In practice, a short policy should:

• say plainly that harassment isn't tolerated, from or toward anyone connected with your work;
• give examples in everyday language;
• name more than one person to tell, so no one has to report to the person they're complaining about, for example the director and the board chair;
• promise a prompt, fair look at every complaint, kept as confidential as possible;
• forbid retaliation against anyone who complains or helps an investigation. The EEOC notes that the law prohibits retaliation for filing a charge, taking part in an investigation, or opposing practices a person reasonably believes are discriminatory;
• apply to volunteers and board members, not just staff.

Give it to everyone when they start, and go over it again each year. If you have staff, put it in your personnel policies; for volunteers, put it in your volunteer handbook. Concerns about financial wrongdoing belong under your whistleblower policy.

When someone raises a concern

1. Listen and thank them. Don't argue, minimize or promise a particular outcome.
2. Write down what they tell you, in their words, with dates, places and any witnesses.
3. Protect them while you look into it. If needed, change schedules or supervision, without punishing the person who complained.
4. Look into it promptly and fairly. Someone who isn't involved, ideally with a lawyer's advice for anything serious, talks to the people involved and witnesses and reviews any messages or records.
5. Decide and act. If harassment happened, take action that fits: a warning, training, removal from a role, ending employment or a volunteer placement. Tell the person who complained that you've acted, without sharing private details.
6. Keep records of the complaint, the investigation and the outcome, securely and separately from everyday files.
7. Check back with the person who complained a few weeks later to make sure the behavior stopped and there's been no retaliation.

Training

The EEOC recommends training for managers and employees. For a small charity, a short yearly session works well: what harassment looks like, how to report it, what supervisors must do when they hear of it, and that retaliation is forbidden.

Some states require it. New York's minimum standards say every employer in the state must give employees sexual harassment prevention training every year, and that the training must be interactive and cover, among other things, examples of unlawful conduct, the federal and state laws and remedies, employees' rights and where to complain, and supervisors' responsibilities. Employers must also give employees a notice with the policy and the training information, in English and in the employee's primary language if it's one of the languages the state lists, including Spanish. The state offers a model policy and training.

Check your own state's labor or human rights agency for any training or posting rules.

Your harassment prevention checklist

• We have a written policy that covers staff, volunteers, board members and the people we serve
• The policy names at least two people to report to, including a board member
• The policy forbids retaliation
• Everyone gets the policy when they start, and again each year
• We know what to do in the first days after a complaint, and who investigates
• We know when to call the police or protective services instead of investigating
• We keep complaint records securely and separately
• We checked our state's rules on training and notices
• We know the employee numbers at which federal laws apply to us