Unclear To Many How To Handle Harassment

When an anonymous caller said Darlene Fisher had filed a sexual harassment complaint against the managers of the elite Boston Harbor Hotel, there was no surprise.

It seems the hotel at Rowes Wharf just can’t stay out of the headlines.

In January, LaToya Rivers, 22, quit her job after a manager told her to change her conservatively braided hairstyle or leave.

In March, a group of Hispanic housekeepers quit after a supervisor demanded they speak only English while cleaning rooms at the hotel.

Now comes Fisher, 24, of Washington, D.C. A recent college graduate, she alleges in a complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination that her former boss at the Boston Harbor Hotel sexually harassed her three times between November and April.

First, says Fisher, her supervisor made an inappropriate remark about her appearance. Then, he allegedly slapped her on the rear with a menu. Finally, in April, he put his hand down her blouse, said Fisher. That’s when she went to employee relations.

“After I complained, the human resources department got in touch with me,” she recalled. “But they basically said, ‘How do you want us to handle it?”’

Fisher, who was a restaurant hostess at the hotel until she resigned in April, agreed to accept an apology from her boss. She says she also asked for a transfer to room service.

Fisher’s former boss could not be reached for comment.

Barbara Shea, the hotel’s director of human resources, confirmed Fisher complained internally, but said Fisher appeared satisfied with the way the hotel had handled the problem.

Shea seemed genuinely surprised to learn Fisher had gone so far as to file a formal complaint alleging sexual harassment. “We felt we’d settled the whole thing to her satisfaction,” said Shea. “We wanted to know if she thought he ought to be fired. She said, ‘No.’ We even asked her what she thought we ought to do.”

That may be considerate, but let’s face it, a 24-year-old just out of college is hardly in a position to know what to do. That’s why some companies hire experts. And that’s why groups like the National Organization for Women are now lobbying to increase the deadline for filing sexual harassment complaints from six months to three years.

Sometimes people don’t know what to do. Sometimes they’re too scared to take action. Most, in fact, need guidance.

After discussing the problem with higher-ups at the hotel, Fisher never mentioned it again. Instead, she waited for a transfer. When that didn’t materialize but another job did, she quit.

In her resignation letter, Fisher thanked the company for employing her and said she would be willing to return in the future. The letter was written by her mother, who feared her daughter’s career in hotel-restaurant management could be destroyed by a nasty recommendation from the folks at Rowes Wharf.

As for the decision to file a formal complaint with the MCAD, Fisher says that was triggered by a remark she overheard after receiving a good-bye hug from a friend at the hotel. “The manager of the restaurant said: ‘You better watch out. She might accuse you of sexual harassment.’

“That’s when I realized he really hadn’t learned his lesson,” Fisher said. “That’s when I knew that, to him, the whole thing was just a joke.”

A great number of women can point to some time in their careers, and lives, when they’ve received unsolicited and inappropriate attention. And many, fearful of losing a job or causing a stir, say nothing.

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