On Feb. 20, 2018, Sports Illustrated published an article exposing allegations of sexual harassment and serious workplace misconduct in the front office of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. This article set in motion a seven-month investigation into the allegations, as well as into the corporate culture of the organization.

The inquiry found that many of the claims were credible, with the allegations in the matter primarily related to senior management, including the former president and CEO, the senior vice president of Human Resources, the former vice president of marketing, and a former senior ticket sales employee. The common themes running among these allegations were unwanted sexual advances, creation of a hostile work environment, and insufficient and/or no response from Human Resources.

For many organizations who believe that they are currently doing the “right thing,” the concern about the Dallas Mavericks situation, aside from the fact that it was allowed to occur at all, was that it appears the organization actually had policies and procedures in place to address each of these instances. The investigation found that the organization had created an employee handbook and updated it on at least three occasions. In addition, the Mavericks conducted anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training for employees twice over a period of seven years, and for supervisors three times over that same seven-year period.

So what went wrong? The Mavericks had the policies in place, conducted policy training, and yet an environment of sexual harassment persisted throughout the organization.

As it turned out, two issues undermined the policies and training—discouraging employees from reporting bad behavior and allowing known behavior to continue without consequence.

First, this behavior was at the highest levels of the organization. As such, employees often felt that the reporting policies in place were ineffectual, and that their complaints would be discounted or ignored. Second, the Human Resources Department was not taking employee complaints seriously and/or was not responsive to the complaints. Worse, in some instances, the vice president of Human Resources actually turned the tables on complaining employees and made the employee feel like the harassment was her fault.

Obviously it is not enough to simply create and promulgate policies and procedures. An organization must enforce those policies and procedures, and that enforcement must be consistent across all levels of the business. In addition, policies and procedures must routinely be reviewed and updated, but most importantly, must contain effective reporting mechanisms which include multiple methods and procedures that allow for complaints, even against the highest levels of the organization.

The mantra in employment law is to always document, document, document. It is imperative for an organization to document all aspects of its employee relationships, beginning with written policies and procedures, and following through with written verification that those policies and procedures have been received and read. Training must also be documented in terms of who provided the training, the materials and presentation used, and a record of who attended. Finally, if a complaint is made, documentation of the complaint, details of the investigation, the findings, and the resolution, including any disciplinary action, is imperative.

However, policies and training are only the first step. Once a report of harassment has been received, the report must be taken seriously. Thee employee must be reassured that the company's non-retaliation policy will be strictly observed. Human Resources must fully review and investigate the allegations. If the company's Human Resources department has not been properly trained in how to conduct an investigation, the organization should bring in an experienced third-party investigator.

Once an investigation is concluded, the resolution should be communicated to all parties and, if necessary, appropriate discipline issued. The specific discipline for each offense or instance should be listed in the policy, and both employees and supervisors trained to understand the consequences of the misconduct. The discipline must be consistent and cannot allow for leniency based on who is involved. One of the key takeaways from the Mavericks investigation was the conclusion that prompt and effective responses from managers are extremely important in addressing and stopping the improper conduct and promoting the desired corporate culture. In short, management must be held accountable to the policies and the corporate culture.

Setting and maintaining a corporate culture that will not tolerate sexual harassment or a hostile work environment must be implemented from the top down. Organizations should actively introduce and implement a Code of Conduct, emphasizing that code with new hires and having each employee acknowledge the Code of Conduct annually. In this way, management will begin to ingrain a positive and desirable corporate culture.

The Dallas Mavericks, as well as many other companies, learned these lessons the hard way. It is doubtful that any organization would willingly subject itself to an intrusive seven-month investigation. Not only is it a virtual certainty that the results will be embarrassing, but the actual time, productivity, and money costs are enormous. For most organizations, it is much better to internalize the recommendations made in the Dallas Mavericks report establishing relevant policies and procedures or addressing any organizational shortfalls, rather than paying the price later.

Todd Shadle is a shareholder and the chairman of the employment law section at Godwin Bowman PC in Dallas.