When charges are filed...

[kahits]

Having no experience with this, apparently a female leader is filing charges against a male leader in my kids unit, for sexual harrassment. I am wondering if anyone has experience with this kind of situation, and what the policy from the council, or higher, is to resolve this. I won't go into specifics, but would like to know if any of you scouters know how this is handled. Thanks,

[scoutldr]

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, but I do deal with labor laws in my profession. If I state anything incorrect, please correct me.

 

"Filing charges" with whom? Since there is no employee/employer relationship, and a scout unit is not a workplace, not sure what laws were allegedly broken. If law enforcement was called, and they pressed charges, then the CC should notify the COR and Scout Executive immediately. They will handle it from there. If law enforcement was not involved, and it's a matter of adults not acting like adults, then it's a unit issue that your CO and Committee needs to deal with.

[Eagledad]

Do everything scoutldr said now. If these are emty threats, generally they will back down when when they learned that that the Council and district are invovled. If there really is a problem, you want to get it away from the unit and into the hands of the folks who deal with these things everyday. Contact the Scout Executive, District Committee Chairman, the District Commissioner and COR now. And try to keep the number of folks in the unit who have to know about this to a need to know basis. Many times the rumors can do far more damage then the situation itself.

 

Barry

[kahits]

Apparently with the council, because she didn't want to deal with the committee. Having been a victim of her accusations, although nothing this devastating, but just as painful to deal with, she is accusing my replacement, who she was upset with for the way he was transitioning into the unit. He has been there from the beginning and is a former OA Chapter adviser, with a great deal of scouter experience for his young years. The claim that is being alledged was from a campout over a year ago, that I observed nothing that remotely resembles what she is claiming.

[evmori]

Are these charges true or just her way of trying to get rid of your replacement?

[John-in-KC]

What scoutldr and Barry said, and if there is one time where we DON'T need the backstory, this is it.

 

Get this to folks who have the authority to deal with it, and the two gents did a good job of describing them!

 

John

[packsaddle]

Scoutldr mentioned, "...it's a matter of adults not acting like adults..."

Heh, heh, I'd enjoy having someone expand on that one. From what I've observed, this is exactly how adults act - pretty much just like much older children in most cases.

[Lisabob]

Nah pack, it's often *worse* than the kids. Can't tell you the number of times I've been tempted to ask some blathering idiot adult whether their mother would be pleased to see them acting that way. Except, it isn't terribly tactful.

[kahits]

I let my DE know, and he checked and nothing has been given to the council from her, so this will probably be a situation that will end up back in the unit committees domain, and they are very willing to deal with it. Most of the district leadership are actually on the committee. It just reinforces that even when dealing with an adult or youth, always have another person present to keep it sane.

[EagleInKY]

I'm not sure of the rule regarding adults. If it were a youth, the rules are very clear. As an adult leader, if you hear of any accusation, you must report it to the scout executive. As for this case, I think it would be wise to at least clue the SE in on the fact that there may have been something, even if it proves to be groundless.

[OldGreyEagle]

When you say charges are they:

 

Criminal

Civil

In the Troop Committee

In the COuncil,

 

In what venue ?

[scoutldr]

To me, the term "filing charges" means that someone was arrested, sued or had a complaint sworn out against them.

 

Otherwise it's just slander or libel...unless it's true, of course. Perhaps the SE will see fit to revoke her membership for not being "trustworthy". In the meantime, if you have historical information, or were a witness to the alleged offenses, it would be prudent to put all the facts to paper with dates, times, and witnesses, before memories fade.

[kahits]

the charge was harrassment during a campout, over a year ago... which I never observed, and our camps were across the road from each other (male and female).

 

[Beavah]

Yah... hmmmm... I second scoutldr. There just ain't no such thing as "sexual harassment" in a non-workplace environment. So she's either accusin' him of being a cad, or she's filin' a complaint for some kind of assault.

 

Everybody's addressed the latter. Bring in the big guns. At da CO level, I'd probably recommend yeh suspend both of 'em from participation until it's resolved.

 

Now, if she's just accusin' someone of being a cad while wavin' around big words and threats, then I think da CC and COR jump in, with da UC and DE backin' 'em up. You meet with the woman and you proceed like it's a formal complaint. Yeh take the complaint seriously, and you talk to parties and investigate. Yeh might still suspend both of 'em while you do that.

 

Then you present your conclusions and you remove or put on double-secret-probation whichever one is "guilty" (either of unscoutlike behavior or of a false accusation). My guess is that if da first meeting is handled well and she knows what she's facin', this woman is goin' to backpaddle fast.

 

Beavah

 

[kahits]

Thanks, B

I think you are on the right track, and I have given this discussion web address to the CC, who is new to scouting (the unit is 16 months old), but has a good understanding as to what has been going on and is ready to bring in the committee, which has it's own big guns, to resolve this before too many unit meets are effected by both their suspensions. I'll put what my experience was and it was more then I cared to experience, let alone deal with, and this might just solve our long problem, but right now the accused needs to be fairly treated, and cleared quickly if this is what did not happen. If it had happened to me, I can't imagine the turmoil it would have caused in both of the units I am involved in.