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06/28/2016
By Katharine Webster

Workplace harassment remains a persistent problem 30 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it violates federal civil rights laws, Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Chai Feldblum told participants in the university鈥檚 first annual .

鈥淭he most conservative estimate is that one in four women experience sexual harassment in the workplace, but more likely the number is 40 percent, or 60 percent if you include disturbing language and crude comments,鈥� she said.

Feldblum, a Democrat, spoke at the conference the day after she and fellow EEOC Commissioner , a Republican, released a report in Washington with help from a task force that included psychology Prof. Meg Bond, director of the university鈥檚 Center for Women and Work and an expert on workplace harassment.

recommends employers try civility training to model respectful behavior and cultivate a sense of shared responsibility for a positive work environment. Better yet, they should conduct bystander intervention training. Bystander intervention, which is increasingly used by colleges to reduce sexual assaults by changing the campus culture, could likewise change workplace culture, Feldman said.

The receives some 30,000 complaints each year alleging workplace harassment: 51视频 half involve sexual harassment and discrimination, while the rest are based on race, ethnicity, religion, age or disability. Yet at least three-quarters of those who suffer harassment never report it to their employers or the EEOC, Feldblum said.

鈥淭he main reason they don鈥檛 complain is fear 鈥� fear of being disbelieved, fear of being retaliated against both professionally and socially, fear of being ostracized,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd the research shows that鈥檚 true. The most reasonable response for workers in some places is to not respond, not to report. They either avoid the harasser, downplay the gravity of the situation, or endure it.鈥�

Feldblum said that first, workplaces need strong policies against harassment, a clear reporting system, and accountability that starts at the top and involves middle management. But that鈥檚 not enough, she said.聽

That鈥檚 partly because standard workplace harassment training focuses on compliance with the law and includes long lists of 鈥渄on鈥檛s.鈥� Most employees tune it out because they don鈥檛 engage in illegal behavior, so they think it doesn鈥檛 apply to them. Employers get a better response when they talk about positive steps everyone can take.

鈥淲hen you tell bystanders how to recognize unacceptable behavior, it not only creates a sense of collective responsibility, but also empowers them by giving them the skills and the confidence to intervene,鈥� she said.

Bond said she served on the along with company and plaintiffs鈥� lawyers, representatives of unions and nonprofits, and other academics. Too often, she said, lawyers, companies and even unions focus on avoiding litigation instead of preventing harassment in the first place.聽

鈥淎 lot of awful things can happen that don鈥檛 rise to the high legal standard a victim must meet in order to sustain an EEOC complaint and win the right to sue,鈥� she said.

鈥淢y contribution was to emphasize the value of prevention and intervening in ways that really change the workplace,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need to move beyond a legalistic focus on punishment and also define the behaviors we want to promote.鈥�