Multiple choice

As a branch-head of a company, you receive a complaint from a female employee about sexual harassment from a senior colleague. The accused is heading an important project of the company and has been purportedly harassing her for the last few months. She is also willing to bring evidence on record and wants action to be taken against the accused, otherwise she would be compelled to quit her job. You would;

  1. Call the accused, warn him of administrative action, but request the female employee not to file a written complaint, as the accused is heading an important project.

  2. Ask the female employee to file a written complaint so as to call for an explanation/ take action against the accused. But this would affect timely completion of the project as the attention of the accused would get diverted to the sexual harassment issue.

  3. Request the female employee to file a written complaint after three months as the project would be getting completed by then.

  4. Permit the female employee to quit and save the project as well as the office from an embarrassing enquiry.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

2.5 marks for option (b) 1 mark for option (a) 0 mark for options (c) or (d) Rationale/ Reasoning (b) Sexual harassment at work place being a violation of law, cannot be condoned or brushed aside even if it is committed by the high and mighty. Option (b) is the best course of action. (a) Warning the accused may or may not stop the sexual harassment, but surely it does not give any justice to the complainent. As such option (a) is not the best one. (c) Option ‘c’ is tacitly a request to the complainant to bear the harassment for another three months. For the sake of a project, breach of law cannot be condoned nor can injustice be perpetuated. (d) Allowing the employee to quit and not to take action against the accused, is akin to encouragement of such an offence. Besides, the employee who has quit may take legal action against the accused as well as the company’s administration for turning a deaf ear to her complaint. Principles/ Values tested Upholding law and valuing it more than short term organisational gains or objectives.   

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