It would seem to me that sexual harassment is one of the very few situations where the accused is presumed guilty, until proven innocent, which is almost impossible to do. The accusation is based, in large part, on how the complainant interprets the comment(s), even if the complainant is not the intended recipient (and even if the recipient and speaker did not intend any harassment and even if the recipient was not offended). If the complainant is offended (or claims to be), apparently that is all that is required to sustain a finding of harassment. The only way to "disprove" the allegation would be to prove that the complainant intentionally misinterpreted the comments, and maliciously filed a knowingly-false complaint. Barring evidence of bad faith behavior ("I'm going to get that miserable Captain if it's the last thing I do"), it becomes virtually impossible to prove. We have been told that in some jurisdictions, the accused does not have the right to confront the accuser (apparently because this is an "employment" or "personnel" matter, not a criminal charge), making it even more difficult to disprove an accusation. And, of course, once an allegation of sexual harassment is in one's personnel file, it is there forever, effectively destroying any further chances for advancement.
This has cropped up once or twice in the sexual harassment trainings I have delivered this year, and I haven't known how to answer.
I suspect the "law book" answer is "there are sufficient safeguards in place to reduce the likelihood of false complaints," but I also suspect the "real world" answer is that these false accusations happen, and there is nothing that can be done about them.
It would seem to me that sexual harassment is one of the very few situations where the accused is presumed guilty, until proven innocent, which is almost impossible to do. The accusation is based, in large part, on how the complainant interprets the comment(s), even if the complainant is not the intended recipient (and even if the recipient and speaker did not intend any harassment and even if the recipient was not offended). If the complainant is offended (or claims to be), apparently that is all that is required to sustain a finding of harassment. The only way to "disprove" the allegation would be to prove that the complainant intentionally misinterpreted the comments, and maliciously filed a knowingly-false complaint. Barring evidence of bad faith behavior ("I'm going to get that miserable Captain if it's the last thing I do"), it becomes virtually impossible to prove. We have been told that in some jurisdictions, the accused does not have the right to confront the accuser (apparently because this is an "employment" or "personnel" matter, not a criminal charge), making it even more difficult to disprove an accusation. And, of course, once an allegation of sexual harassment is in one's personnel file, it is there forever, effectively destroying any further chances for advancement.
This has cropped up once or twice in the sexual harassment trainings I have delivered this year, and I haven't known how to answer.
I suspect the "law book" answer is "there are sufficient safeguards in place to reduce the likelihood of false complaints," but I also suspect the "real world" answer is that these false accusations happen, and there is nothing that can be done about them.