That point comes up every time a bad-HR related post is placed here. However, isn't it very short sighted to consider silencing/removing the accusers a protection of the company. This results in a bad culture and bad PR about that culture in developer circles.
Won't the reduced diversity and all that comes with it have bad effect on the company long term?
It isn't short-sighted, because a discrimination lawsuit has unbounded liability and gets widely reported on. Words are temporary and can be whitewashed, whereas few companies can afford an admission of guilt.
In a reputable company, HR will pass the message higher up (probably off the record), and a manager will look at the evidence and make a good judgment. In this case, the evidence is clear, the manager should have been fired, and the employee given a sincere (but not in writing) apology and compensation.
Note that HR is a legal role. HR will never advise an employee to consider filing a lawsuit against the company, but instead dissuade the employee by saying that there isn't good evidence, it was an honest mistake, he has a family to feed, try to work with someone else. The saying exists because advice from HR is not in the employee's best interest.
> isn't it very short sighted to consider silencing/removing the accusers a protection of the company.
Yes. It's also human psychology. See the church sex abuse scandals. The morality that people claim to have is less important than protecting the group.
The same thing applies to HR. The HR person who shuts down an accuser is doing it in order to protect their position in the hierarchy, and to protect the people in the hierarchy that they know. The fact that it's illegal, and can very well destroy the company is completely irrelevant.
In these cases, short-term focus is more important than long term goals.
It may be short-sighted, but, frankly, most people and organizations in the world act in most contexts in short-sighted pursuit of their goals. Foolish, sure, and unethical in the case of HR departments, but nonetheless, the behavior one can expect from them.
Plus the lawsuits that should be brought... except that bringing a lawsuit on a sexual harassment case results in even more of the same shit in court, plus potential employers hearing about it.
