Sexual harassment cases need confidentiality

Niresh Singh, Deputy Director of Employment Equity Policy and Compliance at the Department of Employment and Labour, states that secrecy is essential while handling harassment allegations.

“Employers and workers must guarantee that complaints of harassment are investigated and handled in a way that protects the confidentiality of all individuals concerned,” Singh said.

Thursday in Durban, Singh spoke at the last Employment Equity roadshow for the KwaZulu-Natal Province.

The Department of Employment and Labour and the Commission of Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration conduct the roadshows together (CCMA).

According to him, the secrecy of harassment cases may be maintained by ensuring that all internal and external contacts about a harassment occurrence are handled as confidential.

“The exception is when the party who reported the event makes the issue public, in which case the employer need merely demonstrate that it has taken steps to keep the parties’ identities secret,” he said.

Singh said during the roadshow that the problem of secrecy does not stop an employer from taking proper measures to preserve the safety or dignity of workers, either during the inquiry or thereafter.

He noted that bogus harassment charges result in the accused becoming the harassed party. Because the individual’s dignity has been diminished.

Singh emphasized that the employer’s harassment policy should outline the range of disciplinary actions that must be proportional to the severity of the alleged harassment.

Warnings, which may be issued for minor instances of harassment and must describe the nature of the misconduct; dismissal, which may follow for continued minor instances of harassment after warnings, as well as for serious instances of harassment; and transferring the perpetrator, which occurs only in appropriate circumstances.

“None of these punishments or internal procedures affect the complainant’s ability to file a criminal charge or initiate civil actions against the accused offender,” he stated.

Tabea Kabinde, the head of the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE), said that the present Employment Equity (EE) changes, which would allow the Minister to regulate sector-specific EE objectives, are intended to address employers and firms that do not want to adapt. – SAnews.gov.za