Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

laws regarding investigating sexual harrassment claim

A colleague and I were presented by management with a written reprimand regarding a complaint that was filed by a coworker. We have not seen the original complaint but the one that management wrote up accused of us viewing inappropriate web sites including pornography and having inappropriate conversations of a sexual nature. The allegations are not true and since then the employee has recanted his grievance. Management however is saying he was coerced by us to recant and is standing by their decision to reprimand us. My question is, does the law require that there be an investigation with any complaint in the workplace that may fall under the sexual harrassment laws? There was no investigation at all in this case. They did not interview us or anyone else working that night. And in fact we believe they changed the wording of the original complaint to make it seem more inflammatory. We are both professionals and the accusor is not. My colleague is asking for a written letter of apology. Our management does not like to be challenged and I am afraid, instead, she will be fired. I wrote a letter to be placed in my file of what actually happened that night. Do we have any legal protection when being falsely accused like this?


Asked on 6/10/08, 4:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Susan Beecher Susan L. Beecher, Atty at Law

Re: laws regarding investigating sexual harrassment claim

There's good news and bad news.

Part of the bad news is that there is no government agency or authority that can or will step in for you. If you want to fight this legally, you would need to do it with a legal action of your own.

The good news is that, based on what you have written here, you may have a defamation case. Although your employer has a qualified privilege to pass along negative information about you, the employer loses that privilege if it acts with reckless disregard for the truth, which sounds like the case here.

The additional bad news is that the cure may be worse than the problem. Nothing chills employer/employee relations like a lawsuit. You do not say what sort of professional you are, so it is hard to judge how damaging this false accusation is. If, for example, you are working with children or vulnerable adults, you are almost definitely going to want to get this cleared up, as it will be a problem every time you need a reference for future employment. You'll have to decide.

Good luck!

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Answered on 6/10/08, 5:00 pm


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