Companies on alert as complaints spotlighted

Sexual-harassment claims have brought down a growing number of high-profile men in the past few weeks.

Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor suddenly lost decades-long positions, and Kevin Spacey lost big roles. Meanwhile, some politicians, including Al Franken, John Conyers and Roy Moore, have vowed not to step down. Does this mean anything outside the realms of media and politics, and will it help victims whose harassers aren’t well-known?

Major employers, including Nationwide and Huntington in Columbus, say they have a “zero tolerance” policy regarding sexual harassment.

Huntington has long had measures in place to combat harassment, adding that “our sensitivity is heightened as a result of recent events,”

spokesman Matthew Samson said.

Nationwide spokesman Eric Hardgrove said the company requires annual training of all employees, “defining our expectations of both their behavior and actions they must take should they observe or become aware of possible harassment.” He added that the company investigates allegations and acts as quickly as possible.

That doesn’t mean that companies will ever be able to prevent all problems. Last year, a former regional vice president for Nationwide, Kristin Nieter, sued Nationwide, saying she had been subjected to years of sexual harassment by fellow executive David Giertz. Hardgrove said that case, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, is pending.

Professionals in central Ohio who deal with sexual-harassment and -discrimination issues hope that the national discussion can be productive. At the same time, they have mixed feelings about whether the spotlight will lead to lasting change for a problem that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a 2016 report is vastly

“I’m optimistic. What we’re seeing is that women have the power of digital. In every one of these cases, women were able to come forward with a tweet, a Facebook post or a blog post. They have the ability now to come forward quickly and tell so many other women instantly.” underreported.

“I’m fascinated by the spotlight on this right now. I’m wondering if it will stay around,” said Camille Hébert, a law professor at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

Hébert said that in her more than 30 years of focusing on employment discrimination, she has seen surges in interest and awareness routinely subside and return, only to die down again. She added that the anti-sexual-harassment training required by virtually all big employers today might fulfill a legal obligation but is often woefully dated and ineffective.

Robert Robenalt, a labor and employment attorney in the Columbus office of Fisher Phillips, said he also has seen the attention paid to sexual harassment come and go over his 24 years in practice.

“This area waxes and wanes depending on what’s going on,” Robenalt said. “Right now, we’re obviously in a heightened period of interest. After the Anita Hill hearings (in 1991), there was a spike in claims and interest.”

The number of sex-based harassment claims filed nationally with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been fairly steady in recent years. In 2016, 12,860 claims were filed; that was more than the 12,573 filed in 2015 but only 1 percent more than the 12,695 in 2010. The percentage of claims filed by men also has stayed fairly consistent, between 16 and 18 percent.

Robenalt said that from the perspective of both protecting one’s business and “doing the right thing,” he would recommend that companies review their sexual-harassment protocols and training, given the heightened scrutiny.

But having a written policy and a training program (typically a computer-based course) in place is considered

just a first step. If it’s the only one, it’s meaningless, experts say.

Marketing executive Alaina Shearer founded Powellbased Women in Digital last year largely because of what she says was her experience with sexism and harassment in the workplace. Through the organization, she has heard numerous other women tell similar stories. Many, like her, did not file a formal complaint because they either feared it would hurt their career or were told it would be a long, difficult process to try to prove and get any recourse.

“While I’m excited it’s in the media spotlight right now, it won’t be forever,” Shearer said. “Many women who are older and who went through the first wave of feminism are pessimistic that it will stick.

“I’m optimistic. What we’re seeing is that women have the power of digital. In every one of these cases, women were able to come forward with a tweet, a Facebook post or a blog post. They have the ability now to come forward quickly and tell so many other women instantly.”

Shearer said that within her group and others, women are using private online venues to exchange information and warn about

individuals and companies that they say don’t protect women. Women’s career site InHerSight.com offers anonymous employer reviews and ratings from women about the best (and worst) companies to work for.

Social media can be a double-edged sword, though. Some say they have concerns about the very pervasiveness of the #MeToo hashtag on social media that many are using to say that they too have experienced sexual harassment of greatly varying types. It also can be problematic when such accusations are made for all to see online, without the accused having a chance to respond, and the actual process of investigating such claims often takes weeks or months.

“I’m a little conflicted,” Hébert said. “At one level, I’m very happy to see the awareness of things like the MeToo campaign. But if the impression is that a woman comes forward on Monday, and the guy gets fired on Tuesday, that’s not realistic.

“And if the sense is that it’s so common, then maybe it’s not as big a deal — I have some discomfort about what’s happening with that.”