Allegations shaking up workplace

Many men saying they’re not sure what’s permissible

LOS ANGELES — Steve Wyard thought he knew what sexual harassment looked like: a put-out-or-loseyour-job overture. Now he’s not so sure.

“Have we gotten to the point now where men can’t say, ‘That’s a nice dress’ or ‘Did you do something with your hair?’ ” says the veteran sales associate for a Los Angeles company. “The potential problem is you can’t even feel safe saying, ‘Good morning’ anymore.”

The allegations that have brought down powerful men in Hollywood, the media, politics and business are sending a shiver through the workplace. Men are wondering if it’s still OK to hug a female colleague or ask about her weekend.

If Garrison Keillor, the former host of public radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” can be fired for accidentally (he said) placing his hand on a woman’s bare back, could they get in trouble for something similar?

CEO Tom Turner of Bitsight Technologies, a cybersecurity company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that held a training session for its 270 employees on sexual harassment last month, worries about the effect the national furor will have on the workplace.

Turner says his business takes pride in being a place where people enjoy being around each other. The company’s website features photos of employees taking part in ski trips and parties.

“With what all is going on in the media, there could be a tendency to go so far that you actually lose what is special about your company,” he says.

University of Southern California sociologist Carolann Peterson says men do need to recognize that a sudden arm around the shoulder or a pat on the butt isn’t the innocuous gesture some might have thought it was, and it can make women uncomfortable, even if they don’t say so at the time.

“Sometimes we as women have a tendency of playing what I call nice,” she says. “We don’t want to offend anybody so we don’t say anything.”

But those days are ending, Peterson adds.

“We need to speak up when we’re uncomfortable,” she says. “And we need men to be a little more sensitive in what they do.”