Devoted to Corporate Attorneys, Corporate Lawyers, and Corporate Counsel

The following is not meant to be legal advice.

Whether an event is considered harassment depends on whether verbal or physical.  Staring may be considered a physical conduct.  However, a manager who yells at employees may not be considered harassing if no sexual nature is involved.  There was once an attorney in an Oakland law firm who got sued for yelling at employees by an associate at the firm.  The attorney seemed to have dual personalities where he would one day buy flowers on the birthdays of his office employees, but whenever he was frustrated such as when he could not find a file, he would scream at his staff.  It is a wonder what the result was in that case, but the associate moved on to work for a mid-sized firm in Seattle, and having worked in the conditions of the firm did not seem to affect her legal career in the end.  At the same time, the partner of the Oakland firm seemed to have many people in the community who vouched for his good reputation so there are always two sides on whether a person has a good or bad nature.  Though, if the yelling occurs after sexual advances are turned down, the yelling may be considered retaliation.

If the behavior is from the CEO, it is difficult to complain to someone about the misconduct.  The other managers report to the CEO.  The complaint could go to a board member.  With public companies, there are whistleblower hotlines which allow employees to report alleged misconduct by officers anonymously to the company's general counsel or board members.  Sometimes the hotlines allow people to leave messages that go to outside attorneys who take on the role of forwarding the messages to the proper people at the company to resolve.