Is your practice harassment-free?


	Enter your search termsSubmit search formWeb ChiroEco.com

Is your practice harassment-free?
By Angelica Redleaf, DC

Small business owners (including chiropractors) who have only a few employees working for them may believe that sexual harassment has nothing to do with them.

They may believe that sexual harassment is a phenom-enon of the larger workplace or educational facility.

And business owners who are healthcare practitioners may also believe that a small healthcare practice couldn’t possibly have such challenges. After all, we are in the business of helping people. Sexual harassment is virtually the antithesis of what we stand for.

These beliefs are not well founded.

Federal law prohibits all types of harassment that involves discriminatory treatment based on race, color, sex (with or without sexual conduct), religion, national origin, age, disability, or because the employee opposed job discrimination or participated in an investigation or complaint proceeding under the EEO statutes.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states that federal law does not prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not extremely serious. The conduct must be sufficiently frequent or severe to create a hostile work environment or result in a “tangible employment action,” such as hiring, firing, promotion, or demotion.

Most often, when we think about sexual harassment, we think about quid pro quo harassment: An employer (or faculty member or other individual who exerts power and control over others) expects sexual favors in exchange for a promotion, better grades, or other “reward” the harasser has the perceived power to provide.

But, as the EEO definition shows, sexual harassment can occur in a hostile work environment that is created when an employer allows risqué calendars, endless flirting, suggestive talk, dirty jokes, and other similar unwelcome behavior.

A person who feels he or she (yes, both sexes are protected) is being sexually harassed can file a formal complaint. The person making the complaint needs some sort of proof (such as witnesses), but even without a lot of proof, your life can become difficult as you defend yourself against allegations.

The doctor’s self-evaluation questionnaire

Monitoring office behavior to avoid harassment means that you should look at your own behavior as well as staff behavior. Ask yourself these questions.

Are you aware of anything that you do that seems to make your patients or staff feel uncomfortable or unsafe?
Do you believe that you have ever been sexually inappropriate with patients or staff?
Do you ever feel you are taking risks with patients?
Do you ever touch patients in ways that might be considered inappropriate?
Is there any office procedure that you believe could be altered or eliminated to provide a safer and more comfortable environment for patient, doctor, or staff?
Do you ever tell off-color jokes in the office?
Do you ever use sexually charged terms when speaking with patients?

Staff questionnaire

Answer these questions as honestly as you can. The goal of this questionnaire is to identify and then eliminate behaviors that may be offensive.

1. Does the doctor do anything that makes patients or staff members feel unwelcome or unsafe?

2. Has the doctor ever acted in sexually inappropriate ways with patients? With other staff? With you?

3. Is the doctor always respectful and appropriate when he or she touches patients?

4. Does the doctor ever tell off-color jokes in the office? Does he or she ever use sexually charged terms when speaking with patients?

5. Does the doctor treat patients differently if they are attractive? Single?

6. Would you feel comfortable sending your daughter or son to the doctor?

7. Have any patients spoken with you about something they did not like or feel comfortable with regarding the behavior of the doctor?

One problem that occurs in a small office is that we develop familiarity and can forget boundaries. And we may not be aware of how our employees — and patients — perceive us and our behavior. It’s a good idea to find out.

I have included a short questionnaire to give to your employees to complete as well as one for you to complete.

When you present the questionnaire to your staff, tell them that you are serious about eliminating any behavior that does not work for patients and that you need their help. Tell them that you want the truth and that you will not be upset with anything they have to tell you.

These questionnaires can help you identify behaviors that may be causing discomfort. I encourage you to use them.

It takes courage to find out how people see us. It takes naiveté to not find out.

Angelica Redleaf, DC, has been in practice in Providence, R.I., since 1978. She is the author of Behind Closed Doors: Gender, Sexuality & Touch in the Doctor/ Patient Relationship (1998) and is an instructor on boundary training for ChiroEcoCE.com. She can be contacted at angelchiro@aol.com.

How are we doing?