Confidentiality is extremely important in any workplace sexual harassment case. Sexual harassment can involve unwanted physical touching, inappropriate comments, and unwanted attention in the workplace. It can also cause an extremely embarrassing or uncomfortable situation for everyone involved. Therefore, if you are a victim of sexual harassment, it is important to know that options are available for you to tell others what happened – and to maintain confidentiality going forward.
If you believe that you are the victim of sexual harassment in your workplace, you should first speak with human resources and report the incident. If your human resources department does not respond appropriately, you should next contact an experienced sexual harassment attorney in your area who can explain your legal options to you. Your lawyer can then help you decide on the best course of action for your case and take the appropriate legal action on your behalf.
Lawyer Confidentiality
Confidentiality is one of the top priorities for any victim of sexual harassment. Victims should be able to talk about the incident circumstances freely, without fear of retaliation or breach.
When it comes to dealing with your attorney, you should feel free to talk about the sexual harassment incident and its effect on your life. Any statements that you make to your lawyer about a workplace sexual harassment incident are confidential. This is because an attorney is bound by professional ethics and attorney-client confidentiality.
Anything that you say to your lawyer and vice versa, within the scope of representation, is not subject to disclosure. This includes conversations that occur during or after the initial consultation. If you’re a victim of workplace sexual harassment, you should speak frankly and confidently with your attorney, secure in the knowledge that your conversation will remain between you.
After discussing the incident with you, your lawyer can help you take the necessary legal action against the harasser and your employer.
Investigation Confidentiality
Whenever an employee makes a sexual harassment claim, the employer company must treat it as a serious accusation. By law, the company has to investigate such a claim, and a work supervisor will either conduct the investigation themselves or appoint someone else to do it. The purpose of an investigation is to obtain all of the facts and arrive at the truth. Another purpose of sexual-harassment investigations is to ensure that the situation does not occur again in the workplace.
While a sexual harassment investigation is ongoing, the individual conducting the investigation must maintain confidentiality to the greatest extent possible. This means that they must protect the identities of both the accuser and the sexual harassment victim. If information about the identities of the alleged harasser and the accuser gets out before an official investigation begins, those individuals may have a legal right to sue the employer, depending upon the circumstances.
Talk with an Experienced Sexual Harassment Lawyer in Your Area Today
Workplace sexual harassment is one of the most difficult things an employee can deal with. An experienced sexual harassment lawyer in your area can help you take the appropriate legal action to resolve the issue with the harasser and/or with your employer.