Sexual Harassment: It’s Not an “If”, but a “When”*
By David Scott Peters
The restaurant business by nature is susceptible to claims of sexual harassment. In this industry it’s not “if” you face a sexual harassment claim, but “when” you face one.
As a restaurant expert and coach, I’m a partner in making my members’ business successful, including teaching them how to protect themselves and their businesses from unwarranted accusations and nasty legal battles of all kinds, including sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is a very real problem in business today, and you can protect yourself and your employees in the face of it. In addition, you can avoid time spent defending yourself in court and the costs associated.
To properly train employees and protect yourself from lawsuits, you need to implement a sexual harassment policy, grievance procedure, investigation guidelines and forms to validate the information that has been provided.
As a business owner with assets and liability, it’s pertinent you have a sexual harassment policy in place — an unquestionable, well-publicized policy.
Once you’ve settled on a policy and grievance procedure, you must train your managers and the rest of your employees.
You can hire a lawyer to develop one for you, or buy a generic business policy (like I offer) and customize it to your restaurant. (I sell a ready-to-implement, restaurant-specific sexual harassment policy and procedures.)
Whichever route you choose, it’s imperative you put a policy against sexual harassment in place and train your management and employees on how to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace and what to do when it happens.
Sexual harassment policies and training are designed to protect your employees and to protect you. The more steps you take to prevent sexual harassment, the harder it will be for anyone to harm your business, or in a worst-case scenario, take it away from you.
David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, coach, trainer and speaker, specializing in systems for independent restaurant owners. He is known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant in the United Stated and find you $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door … Guaranteed! Visit www.TheRestaurantExpert.com for more.
*As seen on FohBoh.
