| (CNN) -- When it comes to the bottom line, there are a few reasons that an employer might pay to sweep sexual harassment allegations under the rug instead of fighting them in the courtroom or the court of public opinion.
But there are greater collateral effects of concealing real instances of harassment, said David Yamada, Suffolk University law professor and director of the New Workplace Institute in Boston.
"Employers become complicit in shielding themselves and the individual harassers -- many of whom are management level or supervisors -- from genuine accountability," he said. "If the confidential settlement does not result in any concrete discipline or discharge of the harasser, there's a decent chance it will happen again to another employee." |
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