It’s unfortunate to state that it’s not an uncommon occurrence for many employees, both men and women (although the numbers do show women are at much higher risk for this), to experience harassment at some point in their careers. This can take many forms, and can be both subtle and obvious. It is absolutely unacceptable of course, to the point where those who do experience harassment are rightly starting to be believed and aided through this process.
In fact, in some industries this has gotten so bad that governmental bodies are having to get involved. The state of California recently filed a lawsuit against Blizzard, one of the largest and most formative computer gaming companies in the world. After a year of investigation, officials allegedly found countless examples of toxic workplace culture, sexual harassment, intimidation, and continual staff turnover. This does occur in many companies around the world, and why so frequently is anyone’s guess.
If you experience this, you don’t need to know the reasons why. You deserve to find safety and to have your voice heard – but most importantly, this mistreatment needs to be stopped and better yet prevented. In this post, we hope to help you more readily shut that down:
Immediately Report It
Harassment, unfortunately, begets future harassment. It can feel scary to do this, but you must report it as soon as you can. Sometimes, this might not be to the actual human resources department in a company, as you might not trust them to handle the case properly. Reporting it to the police can, in some instances, be best.
This is especially the case so that harassment can be looked into and that there’s a record of you talking about it. It’s a shame to say, but more than ever victims of harassment will refrain from speaking up about it, because one they believe that no one would listen, and two, they worry about the personal and professional effects of this kind of fallout.
Finding the person you trust to report it, even if that’s to a trusted friend helps you feel less alone. From here you can:
Raise A Legal Dispute
In many cases, there may be grounds for legal backing. This might involve a wrongful dismissal, for negative treatment, or simply in order to get the opinion of a legal professional, such as those at Ozeran Law, https://ozeranlaw.com/, who have vast experience in these kinds of cases.
The more you can begin to go about this process in the right way, the more easily you can gain solid advise pertaining to your situation, and the more forcefully, appropriately and wisely you can take this case going forward. Anything else, such as throwing threats at your own behest, can undermine how your case is regarded and what kind of response you get. That’s an unfortunate reality, but it’s worth keeping in mind ahead of time.
Collect Evidence
It’s very important to collect evidence to the degree that you can. This might involve text messages, recorded phone calls, or perhaps recorded conversations that you secretly filmed depending on where the abuse took place.
Little measures like this can make a world of difference in helping you prove your case, or at least helping your record a pattern of harassment that takes place. This way, you can speak in exact specifics about the kind of harassment you faced, if it was all-of-a-sudden or took place over time, and of course, the intensity of it.
Align With Others
The sad fact is that someone who is capable of harassment rarely moves onto a self-assigned victim unless they’d also feel comfortable doing that elsewhere. It might be that this kind of treatment from a manager is felt among the members of staff. This can be highly dependent on the situation, so be sure to speak to your lawyer about this.
After all, sometimes it’s safer to just remove yourself from the situation until your claim is properly processed. You shouldn’t have to remain in a toxic and unsafe situation simply because you think you should grit your teeth and bear it. But in some circumstances, multiple people coming forward, such as those at Blizzard and Ubisoft, have allowed one claim to become many, and one complaint easily brushed aside to become the true incredible force that totally overrides the ennui of workplace culture.
With this advice, we hope you can shut that harassment down as soon as possible. You deserve nothing less.
