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Hi po.. I would just like to raise an issue that I am currently dealing with in my work. I am an office manager so I handle HR and Admin concerns. It so happens that one of our employees is a rape victim and I must say she is a bit difficult to deal with which I completely understand.
However, lately she has been having issues with a gay colleague that is frequently blurting out green jokes sometimes really explicit jokes and that is making her very uncomfortable. She has complained this to me and I have since then talked to our gay officemate who also agreed to refrain giving out sexual jokes.
However, the victim has not stopped with her complaints and have talked to several more employees who is not even involved in the issue and kept saying that she does not feel safe in the office. The victim also got angry at me because I did not give her a heads up that we are starting the Secret Santa Exchange Gift that has "something Naughty" as the theme. I tried to change the theme but the other employees want the theme to stay, and without exposing her situation, I was not able to convince the others to change the theme.
The victim has now then created several issues and talked to several more employees who have then sided with her because she told them that she was a rape victim and she has also been telling the owner of the company that our boss (who is also gay and she hates that guy) is the one who starts the sexual jokes, which I know is not true. She used this reason to tell the owner that she will take a vacation / work from home status the whole December and it was granted.
My question is, is having a "something naughty" theme a form of sexual harassment? Also, I am stuck with this situation because I am forced to not tell her she's wrong because she keeps pulling up the "rape victim" card so she ends up getting what she wants.. As much as possible I want to help her and protect her but sometimes I feel that she is borderline taking advantage of the situation. I also feel bad for the other employees who gets in her way. Sorry if this is out of context, I'm just wondering if anybody here has any experience like this and what they did.. or if you have any suggestions? Thanks!
However, lately she has been having issues with a gay colleague that is frequently blurting out green jokes sometimes really explicit jokes and that is making her very uncomfortable. She has complained this to me and I have since then talked to our gay officemate who also agreed to refrain giving out sexual jokes.
However, the victim has not stopped with her complaints and have talked to several more employees who is not even involved in the issue and kept saying that she does not feel safe in the office. The victim also got angry at me because I did not give her a heads up that we are starting the Secret Santa Exchange Gift that has "something Naughty" as the theme. I tried to change the theme but the other employees want the theme to stay, and without exposing her situation, I was not able to convince the others to change the theme.
The victim has now then created several issues and talked to several more employees who have then sided with her because she told them that she was a rape victim and she has also been telling the owner of the company that our boss (who is also gay and she hates that guy) is the one who starts the sexual jokes, which I know is not true. She used this reason to tell the owner that she will take a vacation / work from home status the whole December and it was granted.
My question is, is having a "something naughty" theme a form of sexual harassment? Also, I am stuck with this situation because I am forced to not tell her she's wrong because she keeps pulling up the "rape victim" card so she ends up getting what she wants.. As much as possible I want to help her and protect her but sometimes I feel that she is borderline taking advantage of the situation. I also feel bad for the other employees who gets in her way. Sorry if this is out of context, I'm just wondering if anybody here has any experience like this and what they did.. or if you have any suggestions? Thanks!
