Stop Workplace Sexual Harassment? Companies: Nah

Now this is depressing.

According to a new study, companies don't have much motivation to stop workplace sexual harassment.

Newswise.com reports that new research by Vanderbilt economist Joni Hersch finds there are not strong enough incentives to push companies to eliminate or mitigate the risk of workplace sexual harassment.

In an article in the latest issue of the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, she notes that while companies face some financial risk such as litigation costs, compensation costs, loss of workplace productivity and higher turnover, “the large share of charges of sexual harassment filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission  indicates that these costs to firms’ bottom lines are evidently insufficient to incentivize firms to eliminate sexual harassment.”

Hersch also finds two key issues – under-reporting by victims and lack of regulation – contribute to employers not responding to sexual harassment in the same way as they do other workplace risks for which they offer better responses and higher wages.

"As my work shows, sexual harassment ranks with fatality and job injury as working conditions people are most concerned about. But unlike workplace fatalities and injuries, sexual harassment isn't regulated or inspected in a similar fashion," says Hersch, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Economics and co-director of the Ph.D. program in law and economics.

Hersch explains that job safety is highly regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and companies can face hefty fines. But sex discrimination is not.

Now, finding a woman who has not encountered sexual harassment in the workplace would be like finding a feminist for Trump (sorry, couldn't resist).  I'm one of the countless women who has experienced it (in fact, it cost me a job), and I'm sad to say I don't think it's ever going away.  As long as there are men and power (and women, too), it's going to exist.

“Sexual harassment is illegal because it is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but firms are not inspected for compliance with antidiscrimination law,” she adds.

Hersch affirms that most sex discrimination lawsuits are filed privately and settlements often come with a non-disclosure agreement.  Sadly, the biggest issue preventing companies from more aggressively eliminating sexual harassment—or paying employees a premium because of the risk— is under-reporting by victims.

“Sexual harassment is under-reported, in large part because victims rightly fear retaliation, with estimates indicating that 90 percent of victims do not make a formal report,” says Hersch.  I didn't.

Hersch adds that it is impossible for firms to conceal workplace fatalities and the overt risk of certain jobs, because job fatality risk is readily observable.

“Market pressures in terms of higher pay for higher risk is viable and sustainable,” asserts Hersch. “In contrast, sexual harassment is a risk that often stays hidden.”

But there's hope.

While workplace sexual harassment has been recognized in the United States as illegal employment discrimination for 40 years, social movements like #MeToo are pushing the conversation into the mainstream.

Hersch surmises that since sexual harassment is under-inspected by the government and under-reported, perhaps the “court of social opinion” through social media and other campaigns, will impact companies’ reputations enough that things will change.