Jake is emailing Mia. Mia is speaking with Jake's manager.

Case Study Two

It’s Only Temporary

Later that day, Jake sent Mia an email explaining that he’d be in charge of conducting quarterly performance reviews this year, and he’d like her to stop by his office before the end of her shift. When Mia met Jake at his office, he told her to pick a date to meet after work to discuss her performance by the end of the day, tomorrow.

How would you classify Jake's conduct?

The correct answer is unacceptable

Jake seems to be tying Mia's willingness to go on a date with him, and possibly more, to a positive performance review, which would be considered prohibited supervisory harassment. The fact that Jake is only temporarily her supervisor makes no difference, since right now he has authority over her.

In this instance, Mia would not go to her supervisor for help, since he is the one who is harassing her. So she immediately brought the issue up with Jake’s manager who thanked Mia for coming forward. He explained that no retaliation against her would be allowed, and contacted HR. By raising her concern right away, Mia helped prevent the situation from getting worse.