"Prevention. Correction. Protection. Interfacet."

Sexual harassment and other workplace discrimination claims have dramatically increased in the last twenty years across the United States. Financial stakes have also grown exponentially, with million dollar jury verdicts no longer a rarity. In June 2006, a California jury awarded $61 million dollars to two FedEx Ground drivers of Lebanese descent who said a manager continuously harassed them with racial slurs. The evidence revealed that FedEx Ground took no steps to prevent discrimination, provided no harassment or diversity training to its managers, supervisors, or contractors as to what constituted unlawful harassment in the workplace and failed to take action once harassment was reported. In our diverse and litigious world, more and more employers are recognizing the need to acknowledge, include and accommodate the increasing cultural, religious, racial, gender and other differences at the workplace. Failure to recognize and resolve potential problems may result in expensive, time-consuming, resource-intensive and morale-debilitating litigation. Interfacet provides you the tools to prevent and correct these problems.

In two 1998 landmark decisions, Faragher and Ellerth, the United States Supreme Court clarified that employers and schools which take reasonable steps to prevent such prohibited behavior, and to correct that behavior if it does occur, are afforded reasonable protection against lawsuits. (Note, if the organization has taken "tangible, adverse job action" against the employee, e.g. firing or demotion, it may not be afforded such protection.) Every prudent employer should take the simple available steps to prevent and correct discriminatory behavior. At a minimum, these steps should include enacting up-to-date employment discrimination policies; providing sexual harassment training, diversity training and training on other issues such as communication in the workplace; and ensuring that management responds swiftly and appropriately to concerns of workplace harassment.

First Challenge: Prevention includes preparing anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, posting the policies in a visible location at the worksite(s), and distributing those policies to every new employee and periodically to all employees. Prevention also includes educating employees on those policies: simply creating a policy may not be enough if the employees have not been trained.

The Solution: Interfacet trains
We provide off- and on-site harassment and diversity training programs, as well as a variety of products which help organizations meet this challenge. First, we help employers create reasonable, comprehensive and tailored anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies and procedures which ensure that all parties are treated impartially and equitably. Second, we provide interactive workshops through various media formats. These programs enable employers to ensure that each and every employee is trained to recognize, avoid and prevent harassment and other types of job discrimination. Recognizing that conflict frequently arises from intercultural miscommunications, we also provide programs which teach employees effective tools to better communicate and reduce conflict. We tailor every on-site program to meet the unique needs of your organization, including fire departments, police departments, municipalities, academic institutions, not-for-profit corporations and private sector businesses. Our off-site programs are targeted to specific workplace sectors and designed to address and remedy the types of issues and concerns confronting your employees.

Second Challenge: An employer who receives a discrimination or harassment complaint must fairly, promptly and thoughtfully investigate those allegations in order to determine what, if any, corrective action to take. That investigation is a critical link between the preventive and corrective steps. The failure to investigate at all, or the failure to investigate in a timely, comprehensive and neutral fashion may lead to liability. On the other hand, a well-conducted on-site investigation ensures that all parties, including the complaining employee, the accused, and any relevant witnesses, have an opportunity to provide full information to an impartial fact-finder. A successful investigation must be a fair one or the appearance of bias will seriously diminish its usefulness.

The Solution: Interfacet investigates
Interfacet provides neutral, skilled fact-finders who will interview all necessary witnesses, review pertinent documents, and analyze related facts and circumstances. Based on this, Interfacet will prepare a full report, if appropriate, for the employer on which to base reasonable, responsive action.

Third Challenge: Corrective action may take many forms, ranging from a written warning, to counseling, to transfer, to suspension, even to termination. Not only should "the punishment fit the crime" if there is one but employers must consider that corrective action which will be most effective in reducing employee dissatisfaction, improving morale and productivity, encouraging teamwork, and in avoiding unnecessary litigation. The best corrective action is that which accomplishes all these goals at a low cost.

The Solution: Interfacet mediates
Mediation has become a popular and effective resolution mechanism for employers. It helps the parties reach an amicable solution most suited to their specific concerns and environment. This is a low-cost approach designed to improve employee morale, prevent future discriminatory behavior, avoid litigation, and obtain fast, positive and tangible results. Interfacet's highly-experienced neutral mediators work with management and staff to resolve employment disputes in a creative non-adversarial fashion.