There was a situation where a senior leader’s behavior was widely known but rarely challenged because of their position. HR was expected to “handle it carefully,” which often meant slowly. Power dynamics can complicate even the clearest issues.
How should HR deal with misconduct at senior levels?

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The textbook answer is that everyone should be treated equally and fairly, and the people in corner offices should be treated the same as anyone else. In reality, that's often not the case. In every organization there could be people who could actually retaliate against HR. I've never witnessed something like that personally, but there are stories about executives who get away with abysmal behavior as it seems to go along with their rank.

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I agree with ERS1-often times, the people who are in charge abuse their power and authority. It should definitely be handled carefully but should absolutely not be tolerated.

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Many organizations will bring in a Legal expert to talk about the latest lawsuits and financial impacts to the company when the behavior is illegal, creates unsafe working conditions, or exposes the company to reputational risk. Once seniors understand that the company lawyer is not necessarily at their disposal, the behavior usually stops.

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Can you put some metrics together about that leader? Such as turnover in their department, absenteeism in the department, medical leaves for mental health in the department (not naming anyone, of course)? Executives often think they're untouchable, and if they're an owner, they likely are unless they're doing something illegal such as harassment (real harassment, not "he's rude to me") or embezzlement, in which case a report to the Board or Legal if you have an internal legal department, or the EEOC or law enforcement is the right thing to do.

This is just one of the many examples of how we in HR do not have the authority to fire people or even, in many cases involving senior leaders, doing anything at all, but still get blamed by employees for "HR didn't do anything."

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Im not sure, I was let go because I brought this to chain of command and then a step above once the retaliation started

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