Harassment At Work in Pennsylvania

My wife is a State Employee. She has been harassed by a male for the last 1.5 months and told him to stop and let her alone each time. 1st time he made a comment about having sex with him, 2nd time he directly asked her to have sex with him, this time made a comment about her mood toward him and said she would not be that way because he could satisfy her, without being to explicit. I told her to write him up, the last occurance 12/25 but she was afraid of retaliation from management explaining how the victims end up with the reprimand and how. I called her workplace and discussed this problem with them, the next day. My wife, not knowing I called got summoned to the office and asked by a interviewer soon as she entered, if she was afraid of something or felt threatened, without telling her what was going on. The interviewer finally told her I called in and why she was there and filed a incident report. Long story short, she was advised she could face a day suspension for late reporting, just the type of action she feared. There were two witnesses to the comment and they were called in. I do not know their story yet, but they know that the workplace WILL write them up for not reporting the night they heard the comment which leaves a person with a good idea what that outcome will be. What is she to do and how can a workplace constantly oppress people and write them up, even witnesses? With this, she knows the workplace could become hostile. She is now concerned about going into work because she is assigned to the area where she was harassed rather then working elsewhere as normal. This is a good idea of what she is up against. Any help, advise or direction is appreciated. Thank you

First thing, YOU need to stay out of it. The employer is not obligated to talk to you about your wife's employment and you may end up making things worse for her. This is her battle to fight; of course you should be supportive but you need to let her deal with it herself. By getting directly involved (without her knowing) you put her on the spot with her employer.

Before I take this any further, what relationship is the alleged harasser to your wife in the workplace? Is he a co-worker, manager, supervisor?

This is a co-worker/subordinate.
I agree about involvement and will stay out, from this point on. I made a decision and possibly should of refrained.
The reason I got involved-The man has a extensive background of sexual harassment and being forceful which got him terminated at his prior place of employment about six months ago and lives only a few blocks away. And due to my job, LE, I dealt with his x-girlfriend and became concerned for my wifes well being.

An employee cannot be disciplined or written up because she files an SH complaint, but I don't know of any law that prohibits them from writing her up because she fails to report SH.

What she needs to do now is make a full report of his harassment to HR or wherever her company policy says is the proper place to report it. She needs to cooperate in whatever way they ask her to, in the investigation.

Her employer's legal obligation is to make the harassing behavior stop. They are not obligated to fire him, transfer him away from her, transfer her away from him, or do anything else except make him stop. They also are not obligated to tell her what action they took.

If the harassment does not stop after the employer has had a reasonable length of time to investigate it and take action, she can then go on and make a complaint with the EEOC. She should take whatever measures she can internally before going to an outside agency, however.

She handed in the report to her HR yesterday afternoon. I do know that the people that heard the remark were informed they would be written up because they did not file a complaint, at the time this took place.

Thank you

As I said, while the law prohibits disciplining an employee FOR filing an SH complaint, I'm not aware of any law prohibiting them from disciplining an employee for NOT filing one.

Update: To start, I am staying out of this now. Long story as to why I intervened, it was due to the nature of my work and past events. My wife filled out all the proper paperwork with her employer. The harasser's employment probation has been extended, pending outcome of investigation. Co-workers are now coming forward but called our home on her day off inquiring what they were interviewed for since the state did not tell them and just asked if anything was said on given date and time, my wife is not talking as not to hinder the investigation. Also, the subject has been stalking and coming around our residence both before and after this all took place. I learned of this after I stuck my foot in, he made comments prior to my wife, at work, concerning him knowing when our children and myself are home and not, adding off color comments as to what he wanted to do when she was alone, she was worried about telling me this initially. My wife is just sitting back at the moment, but not sure if she should inform the police or not(?), her supervisor thinks she should but my wife does not want to push this, causing the situation to get out of hand. Her supervisor has been watching her when she leaves and goes to her vehicle, so that nothing takes place, they have been both supportive and concerned for her.

If your wife is disciplined for failing to timely report the man's behavior, I suggest that she contact EEOC or her state's human rights commission. I suspect EEOC will view the employer's action as having a chilling affect on the willingness of victims to complain and, thereby, retaliatory.

Sexual harassment involves unwelcome and offensive conduct of a sexual nature. The conduct has to be unwelcome and offensive to the recipient, not the recipient's husband. I assume that your wife is an adult. How she wishes to handle this matter should be her choice; she is the victim. Your involvement might result in her being disciplined, probably diminishes her self-esteem, and may suggest to her employer that she can't handle her own work related matters.

I totally understand, REF: my involvement. I am not getting further involved. The last post was about her, not me, per her request.

She will not be disciplined. She is relieved that this is out in the open. She is not into computers, so I am asking on on her behalf, at her request.

Since this is more than a workplace situation.--Should she contact the police as her supervisor stated or just let things play out?

Your wife should ask her employer why they want the police involved. These seems like a case of workplace sexual harassment for which the employer is responsible.

Maybe the employer is concerned about the "stalking incidents" that occur off the employer's premises. Can you talk with the police without making an official charge? I'm a bit concerned about the guy's persistence and willingness to "come around" where your wife lives. Maybe it would be helpful if the police were alerted and given an opportunity to assess the facts. They are probably in a better position to determine whether they are needed.