Civility in Workplace,

Free Speech, &

Sexual Assault (and beyond!)AMY CIRCOSTA

FOUNDER, SEVEN & NINE CONSULTING

Today’s Discussion

Do we agree on the importance of workplace

civility?

Can (and should) HR/Management regulate workplace civility?

What is inappropriate conduct compared to illegal

conduct?

How can HR/Management promote a culture of

respect?

What’s missing from Workplace Civility models?

How Rude!

Percent of employees

report rude treatment at work at least once a

month?

62%

Percent of employees

claim that they do not

regularly get respect

from their leaders?

54% https://www.inc.com/susan-steinbrecher/6-ways-to-shut-down-rude-behavior.html

I’m Rubber, You’re Glue

Of employees experiencing uncivil behavior from

colleagues:

78% become less committed to the organization

66% suffer decline in overall performance

47% deliberately spend less time at work

25% take their frustrations out on customers

“The Cost of Bad Behavior” by Christine L. Porath and

Christine M. Pearson, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 39,

No. 1, pp. 64-71, 2010

https://me.me/i/when-im-at-work-and-people-are-rude-on-the-

17710529

Can HR regulate a culture of

respect? Should it?Bad Behavior

HR/

Management

Inappropriate vs. Illegal

Inappropriate

Illegal

Inappropriate vs. Illegal

Inappropriate

Conduct that falls short of violating a

law or policy

Annoying and potentially offensive

conduct

Lack of respect for personal

boundaries

Hate Speech

Illegal (or policy violating)

Conduct that meets the criteria

violating a law and/or an institutional

policy

Discrimination

Harassment

Assault

Hate Crimes

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/career-coach-how-to-cultivate-civility-

in-the-workplace/2012/06/15/gJQA6YIjjV_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e5deba8420bf

First Amendment Rights

United States Constitution

Public Institutions:

What Can Be Regulated?

According to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Universities have a need to maintain orderly operations/regulate affairs, which

may outweigh an employee’s free speech

interests

Academic freedom DOES NOT protect

1) intimidating acts, 2) actual threats, nor

3) disruptive acts interfering with an

educational program

Public Employee Speech:

Three Part Test

1) Speaking as a private

citizen?

No → Not protected

Yes

2) Was the speech a matter of

public concern?

No → Not protected

Yes

3) Was the government employer’s interest in efficiently fulfilling its

public services

>

the employee’s

interest in speaking

freely?

No → Not protected

Yes →PROTECTED

Institution

CAN

regulate

Hate Speech vs. Hate Crimes

Hate Speech = Protected

(still inappropriate!)

The First Amendment protects speech no matter how offensive its content

Does not include BEHAVIOR that crosses the line into targeted threats or inciting violence

No legal definition, but generally a form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or class of persons

Hate Crime = Illegal

Hate itself is not a crime

FBI defines as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity”

Overt acts that can induce violence against persons or property, violation of civil rights, conspiracy, or certain “true threats,” or acts of intimidation

Laws upheld that offer harsher punishment to crimes motivated by hate

Discrimination = Illegal

Occurs when one experiences:

Negative differential treatment

Based on membership in a

protected group

That results in either:

Disparate Treatment

Disparate Impact

https://aulich.com.au/sex-discrimination/sex-discrimination-2/

Harassment = Illegal

Occurs when one experiences:

Unwelcome conduct

Based on membership in a protected

group

Creating either:

Quid Pro Quo “this for that” situation, OR

Hostile Work Environment

Severe and/or pervasive

Alter conditions of one’s work environment

https://www.china-briefing.com/news/sexual-harassment-

china-metoo-movement-prompts-new-legislation/

Retaliation = Illegal

Occurs when:

A covered individual

Experiences an adverse employment

action,

As a result of engaging in protected

activity

https://investipro.com/2017/04/03/5-common-misnomers-retaliation/

Assault = Illegal

Assault

Definition varies by jurisdiction

Generally defined as

intentionally putting another

person in reasonable

apprehension of an imminent

harmful or offensive contact

(physical injury is not required)

Sexual Assault

Legal definitions vary by state

DOJ defines as “any type of

sexual contact or behavior

that occurs without explicit

consent of the recipient”

Umbrella term for rape,

fondling, attempted rape

Inappropriate? Illegal?

A professor is frequently teasing a few employees he

perceives to be overweight about their body size (employees are both male and female-identified). The

teasing includes comments about the lunches they’ve

brought to the lab having too many calories, snide remarks

about the employees not exercising enough, and

comments about how he’ll need to find a bigger lab space

to fit these particular staff members.

Is the conduct inappropriate? Illegal? Why?

What if this professor only teased women?

What if this professor pinched/grabbed body parts while

teasing?

https://news.efinancialcareers.com/cn-

en/166584/eight-awesome-answers-critical-

interview-question-asian-banking

Inappropriate? Illegal?

An employee uses slurs in conversation at work referring to a

racial group, but she has not directed the slurs toward a specific individual. Occasionally, this employee wears an

“All Lives Matter” t-shirt. This employee also has a

confederate flag sticker on her vehicle.

Is the conduct inappropriate? Illegal? Why?

What if this employee targeted her slurs toward a specific

colleague?

Mid-semester, the employee was offended by an invited speaker discussing white privilege in a professional

development workshop. In her anger, she scratched a

racial slur on the back of a campus restroom door.https://www.ihelplinenumber.com/quickbook

s-error-code-80070057/

Workplace Civility Models

A Selection of Resources:

Four Steps Proven to Cultivate Workplace Civility (Forbes)

Google’s Goals for Civility in the Workplace (HR Executive)

Making Civility the Norm on Your Team (Harvard Business Review)

How to Create a Culture of Civility (SHRM)

Ten Tips for Creating Respect and Civility in Your Workplace (Lorman)

Setting Expectations

Modeling respectful behavior

Teaching the expectations

Accountability Measures

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/04/14/four-steps-proven-to-cultivate-workplace-civility/#52f8399037cfhttp://hrexecutive.com/googles-goals-for-civility-in-the-workplace/https://hbr.org/2018/01/make-civility-the-norm-on-your-teamhttps://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0417/pages/how-to-create-a-culture-of-civility.aspxhttps://www.lorman.com/resources/ten-tips-for-creating-respect-and-civility-in-your-workplace-15463

Do we all need to think alike?

Diversity among ideas is

imperative for innovation!

https://blog.footprintseducation.in/why-you-may-want-to-

reconsider-your-kids-cartoon-viewing/

What’s Missing from Workplace

Civility Models?

Cultural Competence

Having awareness of one’s own cultural

identity and views about difference, and the

ability to learn and build on the varying

cultural and community norms of those in

one’s surroundings

From “Why Cultural Competence?” by the

National Education Association

Fundamental to any workplace civility model

Unparalleled resources at universitieshttps://www.myessaywriter.net/blogs/Essay-Writing-Sample-Cultural-Competence

“”

Dialogue around the future of open

expression on higher education

campuses requires us to think

beyond surface expressions of civility.DR. ASHLEY WOODSON, DEFINING AND PRACTICING DEEP CIVILITY ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, 2018

THANK YOU