Is a skilled nursing facility required to protect its employees from sexual harassment by non-employees, including residents, the same as by co-workers?
Human Resource Perspective – Sexual Harassment
Policies/Procedures: The Human Resource Manager must ensure that policies and procedures exist that address sexual harassment by residents and other third parties, as well as co-workers and supervisors. An anonymous and confidential reporting system, such as a hotline, must be made available for all employees to report harassment. Training: Regular training must be provided for all employees on how to respond if harassed by a resident, third party, co-worker, or supervisor. The employer must respond timely and appropriately by immediately investigating all complaints. If the complaint is substantiated, the employer should explore all available options, including, but not limited to, separating the resident and the employee, or assigning a co-worker to accompany the employee when caring for the resident. Auditing: The Human Resource Manager must develop and implement an audit or an employee survey to periodically ensure that the policies and procedures are current, and that all employees are trained on how to respond. The audit results should be summarized and reported to the Administrator and senior management during a department head meeting.
A dietary aide sued her employer, a skilled nursing facility, for failing to protect her from a resident who repeatedly harassed her. The skilled nursing facility argued that it could not be held liable because it did not employ the resident.
The court decided that the skilled nursing facility could be held liable for harassment by a resident or co-worker if the employer knew or should have known about the harassment and did not prevent it.
