Supplemental materials for LEAP 2025 session What Keeps HR Up at Night: Strategies to Help You Sleep Well
The ethics of our profession require HR practitioners and leaders to behave in ways that are beyond reproach when it comes to carrying out HR duties and in their personal conduct at work. That’s especially true when it comes to administering anti-bias and anti-harassment policies.
When those who are supposed to guarantee a bias-free work environment are the source of bias and harassment, that is a potent source of legal risk. Before a judge or jury, nothing plays worse than an HR pro whose attitude or behavior screams, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Recent case: Shana worked for Marathon Petroleum as an HR supervisor. Her role included providing comprehensive HR support to employees and conducting investigations. She was also responsible for advising employees on Marathon’s workplace policies, including its harassment policy.
When the company held three leadership team conferences, Shana attended. After meeting up for post-conference drinks, Shana apparently imbibed too much. The next morning, she texted one of her co-workers a lewd comment. More drinking, profanity and “off-color” jokes followed at the other meetings—all behavior prohibited by Marathon’s harassment policies.
One of the attendees later filed a complaint about Shana’s conduct.
A Marathon internal investigation determined that Shana had violated company policy and should be fired. She resigned and then sued, alleging that one of the other attendees once asked her a risqué question about the color of her pubic hair.
The court tossed out Shana’s lawsuit, noting, “It is undisputed that multiple employees reported … that [Shana] made repeated, sexualized comments. … Multiple employees reported that [her] language was inappropriate or made them feel uncomfortable. Several employees also reported that working relationships had been compromised or that the HR team had no credibility due to [Shana’s] behavior.”
In addition, the court stated that Shana could not prove that she was satisfactorily performing her job when she resigned in lieu of being fired. She had violated the very policies she was supposed to enforce. Plus, she could point to no one treated more favorably than she was. (Troyer v. Marathon Petroleum, DC CO, 2024)
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