How Can My Friend Stop False Sexual Harassment Claims from Previous Employers?

Dear All,

I want to know two things on behalf of my friend. My friend didn't harass anyone sexually or lie in any office. However, he did argue with a couple of girls in a company over some trivial work issues. He is a non-smoker, non-alcoholic, and doesn't have a girlfriend.

He has left 3 to 4 companies. Now, wherever he is going to join a new company, he is receiving feedback that he had sexually harassed someone.

Identifying the Source of Negative Feedback

The question is, how can he identify which previous company is providing such negative feedback and how can he stop it?

Seeking Assistance from NASSCOM

Should he approach NASSCOM for help or not? He is absolutely certain that he did not sexually harass anyone. Please provide me with a solution.

Dear Rajeev,

First and foremost, why has your friend not written this post? You are writing on his behalf; therefore, you are a third party. There is a possibility of distortion or filtration in communication when it is received from persons not involved in the incident. That does not mean that members of this forum have not responded to posts written on behalf of friends or family members. Nevertheless, you could have checked the dictionary meaning of the word "harsh." This misplaced word has distorted your own message.

Your take is that your friend had arguments at the workplace with the women staff members. However, in the course of the argument, did he hurt the feelings of someone badly? Further, you say that your friend is a non-smoker, non-drinker, and does not have a girlfriend. Nevertheless, being a teetotaler and not having a girlfriend cannot be considered as credentials against anyone's salaciousness or prurient nature.

Lastly, your friend's ex-company has gone to the extent of giving negative feedback in the Background Verification (BGV). Therefore, there must be some reason for this. Not necessarily, all companies give negative feedback if it is normal misconduct or underperformance. However, your friend's case is an extreme one. There cannot be smoke without fire. There is someone in the ex-company who wanted to teach a lesson to your friend. Therefore, it is time for you to check the veracity of whatever he has told you! At this stage, the only option he has is to keep on applying for jobs.

Your friend's ex-company should have conducted an inquiry if it had received any complaint of sexual harassment. The latest act on sexual harassment has explicitly defined what sexual harassment is. Either they should have conducted a thorough inquiry and investigated the matter, and if the harassment was proved, then they should have taken action. However, it appears that instead of doing all this, your friend's ex-company could be taking shortcuts and teaching a lesson to your friend by giving bad remarks in BGV. This is nothing but vindictiveness. However, this is just a surmise and it may or may not be true.

Solution

So what is the solution? The last option is to send a lawyer's notice to the company that removed your friend from the job because of negative feedback in BGV. On acquiring the previous company's name that gave negative feedback, your friend has to send a lawyer's notice to the ex-company for damage to reputation. If the reply to the lawyer's notice is not satisfactory, then your friend may file a suit against the previous company. However, this is a course of litigation and it is always an arduous one. Is your friend prepared for its arduousness?

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Understanding the Situation

It is possible that he had to leave the organization(s) due to behavior that amounted to sexual harassment, and a complaint was filed against him. How are you 100% sure that he did leave his earlier companies and was not asked to go due to inappropriate behavior? Sexual harassment is a matter of perception, and the receiver decides if he/she felt harassed or not. The doer NEVER decides if his/her behavior is sexual harassment. Companies have strict policies against such unacceptable behavior. It may have been made a part of his personal file, and that is being given as part of background verification.

Options for Addressing the Issue

You do not have a choice. Your friend can only request his past employer(s) not to disclose this fact during BGV.

Thanks, Avika

Your friend can do one thing: just make an appointment with your company's CEO, or obtain his number or email address. Explain everything clearly, then inquire about the situation by asking, "In my background verification, the company is providing false information which I have not done physically."

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