A Very Short Case Study of the Removal of a Toxic Big Tech Leader
This is how employees can win: be prepared.
We’ve all had bad bosses. Some can be jerks; others can cross the line and commit crimes. And workplace harassment, despite its ubiquity, is a crime, at least in the US.
You’ve likely witnessed or experienced workplace harassment. In rarer cases, you’ve been someone who took the chance to make a formal complaint. And if you’re one in about 400, you won. This is one of the winning stories.
What happened?
Without going into too much detail about the workplace, this is a story of a Big Tech Fortune 500 whose Leadership encouraged their managers to become aggressive to push out perceived low performers. This male Director started targeting two women on his team. During 1:1’s, he’d critique all aspects of their work without being constructive. He wouldn’t allow them to speak the entire meeting; by the end, they’d often end up in tears.
He’d rush off to some other meeting, leaving them in the wake of his aggression, and it was during this time that they’d take hand-written notes in their Moleskins, documenting the meeting time and lots of details about what he said. This happened over months, and they were diligent about taking notes.
When this Director’s boss was confronted with their complaints and documentation, and since it was two people and not just one, it was clear that this was a real problem. This person was gone very soon — like days, not weeks or months .
What’d They Do Right?
Some of the reasons these women were successful included:
- They never fought back. Let’s be clear — they weren’t allowed to speak, but they didn’t escalate things.
- It was two different women, two different 1:1’s. Would they have been as successful as a single complainant?
- They documented thoroughly. The one thing that ethically ambiguous executives understand is legal liability. If they know there’s a real losing legal threat, there’s a good change it’ll be dealt with quickly.
- They didn’t use their work computers or phones to take those notes, and Leadership knew it. They couldn’t just take their devices and fix the situation by force.
- They brought their collective case once they had enough documentation to make a credible case for bad behavior.
What does the law say?
The US has the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce workplace laws against workplace harassment and discrimination.
TLDR
Harassment is illegal workplace discrimination when based on protected characteristics and can be unlawful if it creates a hostile, intimidating, or abusive environment. Employers can be liable for harassment by supervisors, co-workers, or non-employees, and preventive steps should be encouraged to address and minimize harassment.
- Harassment must be severe or pervasive enough to alter employment conditions to be considered unlawful.
- Includes offensive jokes, slurs, threats, or physical intimidation.
- Employers should establish anti-harassment policies and grievance processes and provide training.
- Employees are encouraged to report harassment early to prevent escalation.
- Employer liability hinges on response to reported harassment and preventive measures in place.
Harassment is a form of employment discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA).
Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, older age (beginning at age 40), disability, or genetic information (including family medical history). Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws.
Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality. To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to reasonable people.
Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance. Harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including, but not limited to, the following:
The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, an agent of the employer, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
The victim does not have to be the person harassed, but can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
Unlawful harassment may occur without economic injury to, or discharge of, the victim.
Prevention is the best tool to eliminate harassment in the workplace. Employers are encouraged to take appropriate steps to prevent and correct unlawful harassment. They should clearly communicate to employees that unwelcome harassing conduct will not be tolerated. They can do this by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process, providing anti-harassment training to their managers and employees, and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains. Employers should strive to create an environment in which employees feel free to raise concerns and are confident that those concerns will be addressed.
Employees are encouraged to inform the harasser directly that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. Employees should also report harassment to management at an early stage to prevent its escalation.
Employer Liability for Harassment
The employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a negative employment action such as termination, failure to promote or hire, and loss of wages. If the supervisor’s harassment results in a hostile work environment, the employer can avoid liability only if it can prove that: 1) it reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior; and 2) the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.
The employer will be liable for harassment by non-supervisory employees or non-employees over whom it has control (e.g., independent contractors or customers on the premises), if it knew, or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt and appropriate corrective action.
When investigating allegations of harassment, the EEOC looks at the entire record: including the nature of the conduct, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination of whether harassment is severe or pervasive enough to be illegal is made on a case-by-case basis.
If you believe that the harassment you are experiencing or witnessing is of a specifically sexual nature, you may want to see EEOC’s information on sexual harassment.
How to address workplace harassment
There are many ways to address workplace harassment, including but not limited to training for managers, proactive company-wide communication, providing employees with anonymous reporting tools, and educating staff on their legal protections.
Employers: Hush Line as a Tip Line
Employers are encouraged to check out Hush Line, our free and open-source secure tip line platform. They can create an account, share their tip line page with their organizations, teams, and stakeholders, and encourage private disclosure of potentially unethical or illegal behavior.
Employees: Hush Line as a tool for documenting offenses
Hush Line is end-to-end encrypted, meaning we have no way of knowing the contents of the messages on our server. Only the intended recipient can read the message. Employees can use Hush Line to take notes of their interactions. After creating an account, we can forward messages, so there’s always a redundant copy of your notes: one on our server and one in your inbox, both only readable by you.
When you go to your profile page after logging in to your account, you’ll see a heading that says “✍️ Note to Self” — only you see this. When anyone else views your page they’ll see “Submit a message to {{ username }}.”
Conclusion
This case shows that employees can effectively address workplace harassment when they remain resilient, organized, and calm. Documenting harassment, understanding one’s rights, and presenting a well-supported complaint are strong steps in combating abusive behavior. Employers should recognize the value of proactive anti-harassment policies and training and the adoption of tools like Hush Line, which help create a safer workplace and avoid the risks tied to unchecked misconduct.
