If the employer finds that sexual harassment did occur (or even some inappropriate action falling short of sexual harassment), expect the employer to take some remedial action. A variety of disciplinary measures may be used, including:

• An oral or written warning;
• Deferral of a raise or promotion;
• Demotion;
• Suspension; or
• Discharge

The action taken in any particular case is within the organizations discretion. The precise nature of the discipline is often kept confidential to ensure that the privacy of individuals is protected. One aim of the action is to deter any future acts of harassment. If you, as the complaining party, fell that the harasser is retaliating against you for complaining or continuing to harass you, you should immediately use the employer’s procedures to report the conduct so that the employer can take further action as appropriate.

If the employer does not have enough evidence to reach a conclusion about harassment, it still might take other actions, such as separating the parties, holding training sessions on preventing sexual harassment, or having the affected employees certify that they have read again and fully understand the employer’s policy against sexual harassment.

Note: Many organizations forbid conduct that falls short of unlawful sexual harassment and do impose discipline for conduct that comes to their attention as the result of a sexual harassment complaint, even if the conduct does not violate the law or the organizations harassment policy. For example, a manager who makes sexual advances to subordinates might be disciplined for exercising poor judgment, even if the sexual advances were welcomed; and an employee who engages in a single incident of offensive gender-based conduct might be disciplined for inappropriate conduct, even if the incident was not severe enough to create a hostile environment. The fact that an employer imposes discipline in response to a complaint of sexual harassment is not admission, therefore, that any unlawful harassment has occurred.