(Published May 4, 2009)
I had an interesting question this past week from a mother whose 17-year-old daughter had been sexually harassed by her manager. The daughter, good for her, had reported it, and the HR office was investigating. The mother wanted to know whether she had the legal right to be present when her daughter was interviewed, since her daughter was a minor.
The mother contacted me online and didn't give her state, so I couldn't determine whether she actually has a legal right to be there. That kind of thing tends to be state-specific. I tend to doubt any state has such a requirement, though. But, frankly, I was more concerned with another aspect of her question. I was less concerned with the mother's legal rights than as with her daughter's sensibilities.
Back when I was 16, I was the inadvertent and very unwilling witness to an incident that resulted in my having to describe the genitalia of a gentleman with whom I was previously unacquainted, to the police, and potentially in court. It could have been a lot worse than it was. The young man simply asked for directions, but he was wearing nothing on his nether regions at the time. When I first got home after the incident, I did nothing; I was too embarrassed to mention it. But when I learned the next day that the young man had also approached the sister of a friend of mine, I reported the incident to my parents, who in turn called the police.
I will say that the police went out of their way to make it easier for me. They came to the house instead of requiring me to go to the station; they allowed me to identify him by photos instead of having me attend a lineup, etc. They also "allowed" my parents to be present the entire time. I was too shy to tell them that I would have found it easier to discuss the situation with just the two policemen in the room, especially since they did not send a female cop. The more people present, the harder it was to talk about it. (Okay, I was a shy kid, so sue me. Who could have known?)
I've conducted my share of sexual harassment investigations, and I have yet to interview a victim or alleged victim who wanted any more witnesses in the room than necessary. After my experience above, I can only imagine how difficult it would be for the daughter to talk about the harassment in front of her mother. If she wants her mother there, fine; I don't wish to make it any harder for the kid than it already is, not to mention that I don't want a lawyer coming in later and declaring that the girl was denied her "right" (whether it exists or not) to have her mother there. The point is that it should be the daughter's decision, not the mother's. The mother's legal rights are not what's important; she is not the one involved in the investigation. What matters is the girl feeling secure enough to describe what happened. And if that can be done more easily without her mother present, then bye-bye, momma.
Just something to think about if you ever have to interview a minor in a sexual harassment situation.
Catherine Bannon is an HR consultant in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting practice.
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