Preventing Sexual Harassment · Module 3
Use these scenarios for team coaching sessions, 1:1 debriefs, or certification preparation
Scenario 1
Situation
In a team meeting, an employee mocks a transgender colleague's name and pronouns and makes "jokes" about their identity. Others laugh awkwardly; the targeted colleague goes silent. You are running the meeting. No one has filed a formal complaint — yet.
Your Task
Intervene as a supervisor and model bystander leadership.
Step-by-Step Guidance
Recognize this as harassment based on gender identity/expression — one of the protected bases, not "just a joke."
Intervene in the moment: stop the conduct clearly and calmly, and make expectations explicit ("that's not acceptable here").
Model bystander intervention — encourage bystander training; leaders set the norm by acting, not laughing along.
Check on the targeted colleague privately and correct the room's use of the person's correct name and pronouns.
Report and document the incident even though no formal complaint was filed — you witnessed it, so the duty to act is triggered.
Reinforce that respectful conduct and correct identity treatment are required, and that retaliation against anyone who objects is prohibited.
Facilitator Debrief
Gender identity and expression are protected; mocking them is harassment, not humor. Supervisors have a duty to act on conduct they witness, even without a formal complaint. Modeling bystander intervention — stopping harm in the moment rather than waiting — is exactly the leadership prevention envisions and the single biggest culture lever a manager has.
Key Principle
Gender identity is protected. Witnessing triggers the duty to act — model bystander intervention.
Scenario 2
Situation
A high-performing manager repeatedly berates his team with profanity, humiliates one employee in front of peers, and sabotages another's projects. It isn't sexual and doesn't target a protected class — leadership has tolerated it because "he gets results." Morale is collapsing and two people have quietly asked about transferring.
Your Task
Apply the abusive conduct standard and prevention duties.
Step-by-Step Guidance
Recognize this as abusive conduct: malicious workplace conduct that a reasonable person would find hostile or offensive and unrelated to legitimate business interests.
Understand training must address abusive conduct prevention even when the behavior is not tied to a protected class.
Identify the forms present: verbal abuse (berating, profanity), humiliation, and sabotage of work performance.
Note the "results" excuse is not a defense — tolerating abusive conduct undermines the employer's prevention duty and legal exposure (including violence/threat protections where relevant).
Escalate to HR/leadership: the behavior needs correction regardless of the manager's performance.
Reinforce the prevention duty: employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment and abusive conduct — prevention and leadership, not tolerance, is the standard.
Facilitator Debrief
Abusive conduct — malice-driven verbal abuse, humiliation, or sabotage that serves no legitimate business purpose — must be addressed even when it isn't sexual and isn't aimed at a protected class. "But he gets results" is not a defense. Employers have an affirmative duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment and abusive conduct, and leaders who look away breach it.
Key Principle
Abusive conduct counts even without a protected class. "Gets results" is no defense — prevention is a duty.