Filing an Internal Complaint
If you’re experiencing sexual harassment, retaliation, or both, and your issue isn’t resolved, filing a formal complaint within your company/agency is an option. As I’ll discuss, the outcomes of this process are not always promising, but nevertheless, it’s important to know what to expect when considering this course of action.
As always, you can always skip straight to this option if confronting your coworker, supervisor, or upper-level management will adversely affect your well-being.
Alternatively, if you sense that your company or agency isn’t likely to address your concerns internally, even at the upper-management level, I recommend reaching out to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEO) as soon as possible. For more information on this process, see my blog titled “Reporting to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”
No-Contact Order
First and foremost, you should know that as soon as you inform the company/agency that you intend to file a formal complaint for sexual harassment, they are legally obligated to put a civil no-contact order in place. The no-contact order will notify the harasser that a third person must be present on all emails, phone calls, or in-person meetings with you.
To be perfectly honest, the no-contact order sounded drastic to me at first. However, it ended up being the single most beneficial aspect of filing my internal formal complaint, in terms of my mental health and overall well-being. Not only did this naturally limit my general interactions with my coworker, and eventually my supervisor, it also limited any inappropriate behavior while in front of the third person. It wasn’t until the harassment ended that I began to fully comprehend how detrimental it had become to my daily life. I have the no-contact order to thank for that.
Read You Company’s Sexual Harassment Policy
I highly recommend educating yourself on the reporting process outlined in your organization's sexual harassment policy, as well as the local laws and regulations regarding sexual harassment and/or retaliation in the workplace. It’s very important that you understand your rights, as well as which specific discrimmination laws and company policies were violated. For example, here are some key points of a sexual harassment complaint that may violate your company policy:
You were subjected to harassment on the basis of sex (female), in the form of degrading/demeaning and objectifying actions or comments.
You were subjected to harassment on the basis of retaliation (opposing sexual harassment), in the form of intimidating actions or comments.
You were subjected to a pattern of harassment on the basis of sex and retaliation.
There was a lack of effective action by management to end the harassment on the basis of sex and retaliation.
*Note: Federal law does not require companies with less than 15 employees to have a sexual harassment policy. If your company doesn’t have a sexual harassment policy, or employs less than 15 workers, I recommend reaching out to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEO), or your local discrimination agency, for guidance on a path forward.
Follow the Formal Complaint Procedures
Be sure to adhere to the designated procedures outlined by your company for reporting incidents of sexual harassment. This often includes filling out a standardized harassment intake form. You can expect this form to request details on the sexual harassment and/or retaliation incidents, including dates, times, and individuals involved.
Take Your Time
The company will be eager to know the details/severity of the formal complaint, so they may rush you to return the intake form, but it is important to take your time to fill it out thoroughly. Use clear and concise language to articulate your concerns and experiences, including all relevant details and any supporting evidence. If you’ve been tracking the details of your sexual harassment experience in your log, you will already have the bulk of the information requested at your fingertips.
What to Expect
This form will then be sent to an HR representative to review. Depending on the severity, the HR representative may then contact an investigator within your company/agency to conduct an internal investigation. If they do, the investigator will contact you to conduct an interview. This may sound intimidating, but remember that investigators are familiar with conducting these interviews, so they are usually very sensitive and empathetic to your situation. Their main objective is to collect as much information as possible. In addition, the investigation is for internal use only - neither you, your supervisor, or any of your coworkers, will see the full details of the investigation. Rather, it will be used by human resources and the Authorizing Official of the investigation.
Reach out to Your Witnesses
The investigator will likely ask you to provide names of witnesses. If you do have witnesses, such as fellow coworkers, you may want to consider reaching out to them. Again, this may be an uncomfortable conversation, but it is important to give them a “heads up” so they aren’t caught off guard when the investigator contacts them. In addition, maintaining open and honest communication with these witnesses is also very important if you decide to file an EEO complaint - they may be your greatest ally to corroborate your claims.
Document, Document, Document!
As always, preserve all emails, texts, online messaging chats, as well as documentation on all meetings and phone calls, including dates, times, locations, and descriptions of what happened. Add important dates to your log, such as the date your formal complaint was filed and the date of the interview for your investigation.
Do Not Sign a Non-Disclosure or Confidentiality Agreement!
Upon filing a formal complaint, companies and agencies will often request a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement to be signed. DO NOT SIGN IT. I repeat, do not sign any form of non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement (NDA) at any time. NDAs are a means to prohibit victims of sexual harassment/assault from discussing their experiences. This not only prevents victims from finding the support of other victims, it also inhibits victims from raising awareness to prevent future harassment/assault. NDAs greatly contributed to the perpetuation of sexual harassment and assault by Harvey Weinstein, Larry Nassar, Bill Cosby, Jeffery Epstein, and R. Kelly, to name a few.
No Need to Stress Over Something That’s Likely Inconsequential
I realize that this process sounds intimidating; it felt extremely intimidating and stressful as I went through it. In reality though, this is solely an internal complaint. In other words, it’s still small fries, with a possible dead end.
For example, after filing my internal complaint, the investigation itself took 5 months. Then once completed, the report of the investigation findings was sent to the regional office, where it sat month after month. At the time of my resignation, 11 months after I first filed the complaint, the investigation status was still open. All the while, my coworker continued to sexually harass women in my office.
Expect Little Action, or None at All…
Some companies and agencies may take serious action following internal investigations. Others may do everything in their power to avoid dealing with it. And it can be difficult to predict which path your company is going to take. My best advice is not to get your hopes up because there is monumental evidence showing that systems always default to protecting the status quo, and thereby, the harasser.
As for my experience, I can honestly say that my internal complaint, and subsequent investigation, had been a long, exhausting smoke screen. I now feel as if the entire process had been a tactical move used to fatigue me, through endless calls and emails, until advocating for my rights became more exhausting than simply putting up with the harassment and retaliation. It also became evident that my report would have no impact on the agency’s obligation to address sexual harassment and retaliation, and that I would need to contact the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office for my concerns to be taken seriously.
After I resigned from my position, I was curious to know if my internal complaint, and subsequent investigation, had actually invoked change to prevent my coworker from sexually harassing other women in the office. At this point, it had been almost a year and a half since I initially filed my formal complaint. I received the following reply from human resources “The alleged victim may not be provided the outcome of any disciplinary action against the allegedly harassing employee and may not be provided a copy of the fact-finding report. The victim, witnesses, or subject of an investigation are not entitled to the investigative report or any specific information about corrective or disciplinary action that has been taken. You may be provided the status of the investigation which remains open at this time.”
As I mentioned previously, the no-contact order that was put into place for the coworker that was sexually harassing me was the most beneficial aspect, and really the only action taken (only because it was legally required), as a result of my internal formal complaint. Long story short, file the internal complaint for the no-contact order (and possibly to help your future EEO case), but don’t expect your employer to take any action to end the harassment/retaliation becuase of it.
If you are experiencing, sexual harassment, retaliation, or any other form of workplace discrimination, feel free to reach out to me at hello@kendallsimon.com for support and guidance.
***Disclaimer: These are merely my recommendations based on my personal experience. I am not legally responsible for any decisions made based on the information provided.***