Justice Department Releases New Sexual Harassment Guidelines
[ad_1] The policies direct sections to systematically track sexual harassment claims. Each allegation must specify the nature of the claim, whether it was reported to the inspector general or to security, and the disciplinary action taken. And they say that managers must account for such allegations before giving an employee an award or other public commendation. But the guidelines allow each unit to decide how best to enforce many of the new directives, a decision that critics say does not comply with one of the inspector general’s top recommendations of equal policy enforcement across the department. The department’s sprawling network of prosecutorial offices and other outposts employ more than 115,000 staff members. The different sections also have different reputations concerning how they treat employees. “There should not be discretion among components in how each applies a directive,” said Cathy Harris, an employment lawyer at Kator, Parks, Weiser & Harris. “You could...