I would like to share this riddle with your HR rep: what do horseshoes, hand grenades and harassment all have in common? That’s right, close enough is good enough to do some damage. In other words, under our civil rights laws, bystanders have the same right to be free from harassment. Therefore, even if you are not the target of offensive behavior, but you see harassing behaviors or overhear offensive language, you are just as protected and you have the right to complain. You were right to complain. Your complaint triggered the employer’s responsibility to seek out and eradicate offensive behavior. The fact the HR rep did little or nothing only exposes the employer even more. The HR rep is also forgetting another important rule: The majority does not always rule in harassment cases. The standard for determining offense is whether a reasonable person under a totality of the circumstances would find the behavior objectively offensive. The fact an organization’s culture tolerates, or even encourages such behavior, is irrelevant. The arguments that we “were just having fun,” “that’s the way it’s always been around here,” “it’s just jokes and harmless teasing,” or my least personal favorite, “boys will be boys,” are admissions of liability, not reasonable excuses or defenses. Indeed, trying to invoke the “we are different,” “we are sales people,” or “we are so important” defenses in these cases is just a form of corporate suicide. I should add, if you are subjected to some adverse consequence because you complained, then the employer is not only liable for harassment to which you have been exposed, but also for retaliation. Finally, if your employer does not do anything, employees have the right to complain to the federal or state civil rights agencies in your state to seek relief. Given your employer’s lame effort, you may wish to consider taking your complaint to a more receptive audience.