Guest post: How To Report Sexual Harassment.

all I have to say is thank you.
I'm sorry for what has happened, but I appreciate the fact you took the time to write all this out and share it.

As ugly as the situation is that inspired it, this article/post/thing is terrific. I applaud Ms. Mattheson for going into so much detail about the process of reporting. I feel it's one aspect of the whole harassment deal that doesn't get talked about as much--I mean, okay, people are encouraged to report incidents, but I haven't seen anything like this, that walks you through the process, what to expect, what to write down, what to say, etc. An excellent "road map," as she put it.

Thank you to both of you for writing and posting this, and darnit, I wish we lived in a world where there was no cause for such things to be said because these sorts of things didn't HAPPEN.

Ms. Matthesen, thank you so, so much for being brave for yourself, and also for us, in taking action, and also showing us how to take action as well. Thanks also to Ms. McGuire for helping boost the signal. This has me a bit freaked out, but also heartened, too.

Remember, you have the right to say "no.". You have the right to insist on "no". If he (or she) doesn't seem to understand "no" you have the right to bring the full weight of the law down on them. If others can't or won't understand this, that is their problem and not yours.

Seanan and Elise, thank you for this post.

I note that the traffic to read Readercon's new Code of Conduct, Policies, and Procedures has significantly increased today. It is my fervent hope that we will be doing better.

Thanks for telling your story and making information availble.

And thanks Seanan for getting the message out.

I know the procedure for reporting sexual harassment and taking a sexual harassment report, since it was part of my job to handle the initial reports while I was a supervisor in a medium size city's bureaucracy.

Reading down the posts of comments on this article I noticed that it is considered to be a permanent record if you make a Formal report. In the only formal report that was taken at my supervisory level during the 15 years I was a supervisor the accused had a pattern of sexual harassment, against multiple individuals, but no formal report had been made previously about this individual. The supervisor who took the report was an honest person who was aware of the past offenses of this individual that had been reported unofficially, and had discussed the offensive behavior with the offender. In each case, the offender stated that they would cease and desist and later escalated their behavior. The supervisor fought hard to keep the original formal report, but was informed that the options were, "destroy the original or lose your job".

Unfortunately, the individual who was the harasser had a close relative who was on the city council. Eventually the report was expunged from all the departments it had been passed on to including HR. Additionally the person who was the supervisor who took the report was ordered to destroy the only copy they had and not make any copies. The employee who was the harasser went on to retire from that city after 30 years. The department head who was the one who ordered that record destroyed also retired and went on to another, larger organization which they still head.

The moral of the story is: If you ever file a report, take a friend or other person in the organization, or even better someone outside the organization, with you to the interview so that you have a witness as to what transpired. Demand a copy of the official record to keep in your personal records somewhere other than the office or place you work. Make those copies of the official report or the report taker's notes "On The Spot". Demand they copy them right there without removing them from the room, or go with them with your witness to make the copies. That way no changes or destruction of the report can be made later without that destruction or alteration being discovered and countered. Take notes while you are being interviewed as to what was said, what was reported, who you reported to and who the report or report copies are going to be passed on to and keep them, preferably multiple copies in multiple places.

The situation can get more involved than telling the person to stop harassing people and getting a response from them that they will stop. They might not stop, or they might escalate their behavior, as happened in this case. Someone who can corroborate your testimony in court, if it comes to that, is important to your credibility. HR and the person who took the original report can be told to "forget" that a report was ever made if the organization has individuals who are corruptible, corrupt, or fear for their job.

I am not being paranoid, I have simply seen what can happen in a supposedly enlightened organization with a written official policy of "no tolerance of sexual harassment, racial, gender, religious, or sexual orientation discrimination" lead by a "politically sensitive" manager/department head.

Bork

That's depressing but helpful.

Much love and admiration (and anger on your behalf) from me, Lioness Dear.

thank you for sharing this. I hope that many people learn from your experience and are willing to navigate the process, for themselves, and the future people that might be harassed by that person

I'm going to my first true conference in a couple of weeks; they have a stated sexual harassment policy, but since this is my first time, really (well, I've been to Dragon*Con, but this is a professional development conference) it didn't occur to me o really look beyond that.

Now, I know that I need to track down my contacts just in case. Better to be armed with the information and not need it than for something to happen and me be left with no idea who to go to. I'm a lone female traveling across the country. Granted, I'll be with male coworkers I trust, but I won't be with them ALL the time, and I can't rely on their presence to protect me.

I hope this is appropriate to post here (a signal boost within the signal boost). Ursula Vernon has a current entry on a similar topic: handling harassment when you're a witness, not a victim.

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1544668.html

Thank you both for sharing, this was both informative and well-written and I appreciate having the knowledge.
I don't know if Ms. Matthesen is reading the comments on this (don't blame her if she isn't), but I applaud her bravery in reporting this all the way. Way to stand up and be heard.

Jim Frenkel was my editor at Forge and I am really shocked to hear about this, and note that he is no longer at Tor/Forge. This will probably result in my third book not being published by Forge but I just wanted to commend Elise for speaking out, for formally reporting this. Years ago I worked at a place where most of the women were sexually harassed by one of the managers. I didn't know about it because I worked in a totally different area and had no dealings with this manager. I learned about it when a few of them got together to report the harassment to the Board of Directors. When I heard about it, I supported them all the way. The Board decided to back the manager and fired all the women who filed complaints (Some filed lawsuits afterwards, but I don't know what happened, probably settled). I quit that job two weeks later, had a few months of tough times but couldn't work in a place like that. So I again commend Elise for what she did, it sounded difficult but she did it. She deserve our praise and respect.

Thank you for standing up for yourself and by extension everyone else who finds themselves in this difficult, unfair situation. I hope it all gets resolved and your words inspire others to report their experiences (again, as you say, not only as geeks, but writers, that is what we do.) I hope also that this sends a message to those who think certain behaviors are acceptable or at least passable that it ends now, and is neither acceptable, nor passable. For here there be consequences.