Recent revelations in the news about sexual harassment has bought the importance forward of having good policy and training in place for our members. Our Unlawful Discrimination and Harassment policy is found in section V of our Best Practices Personnel Policy Manual; the full manual is available for download from the CORSA website - http://www.corsa.org/ Established policy and employee/supervisor training is key to preventing and defending harassment claims. Establishing an affirmative defense - there are directives from both the EEOC and the U.S. Supreme Court stating the necessity and importance of training. For example, in the well-known Faragher and Ellerth sexual harassment cases, the Court opined that where no negative employment action exists, employers can establish an affirmative defense to liability or damages if they can show that they (a) "exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior," and (b) "that the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise." Training employees would, therefore, be a necessary component to support such a defense. CORSA has made available through our CORSA University on-line training system the ability for all members to get the training needed for both supervisors and employees at no charge. The following harassment training courses are available right now for all members to utilize: * Sexual Harassment In The Workplace * Workplace Harassment * Sexual Harassment Awareness for Managers * Other related courses are also available - * Bullying in the Workplace * Diversity in the Workplace * Violence in the Workplace * Workplace Bullying * Disciplinary Action & Procedures * Supervisor Skills 101 * Supervisor Skills 201 CORSA University can be found at: https://www.localgovu.com/products/learn/?t=corsa James Hale, ARM-P, ARM-E, CPSI Risk Control Consultant County Risk Sharing Authority 209 East State Street Columbus, OH 43215 614.246.1630 FAX 614.220.0209 " The leader in providing Ohio Counties with exceptional value, service, and protection of assets." [cid:image001.png@01D36CE8.C7D3DF00] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message (including any attachments) is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy this message and all attachments.
