It's been more than a decade since a now-famous subordinate accused her even more famous boss of asking her for dates, making sexual comments in the workplace and describing pornographic videos.

But 11 years after the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings made headlines and brought the controversial issue of workplace sexual harassment to the fore of the nation's consciousness, it's debatable whether much has actually changed in the workplace.

Derogatory remarks. Offensive jokes. Suggestive language. Demands for sexual favors. Groping and inappropriate touching. Actual physical assaults. These still occur in business everyday.

"It's still a major problem in the workplace," said David Grinberg, a spokesman for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "At the same time, victims are also more likely to come forward because they are more aware of their rights."

Companies are still dealing with the aftermath of the Thomas/Hill hearings — the flood of individual sexual harassment suits that followed.

Complaints have more than doubled in the past decade to a current 15,000. Most continue to be filed by women against men, but more men (14% of all suits) are also complaining — usually against other men for sexually harassing, bullying or hazing them at work.

How to deal with the torrent of complaints unleashed by the Thomas/Hill hearings? First, more companies need to draft strong sexual harassment policies (See Sidebar Story). They also need a real commitment to following through on investigating complaints, and they need to train their employees about their rights and responsibilities. They also need to educate their supervisors so that they understand harassment and their role in preventing it.

A strong anti-sexual harassment program can help companies avoid millions in federal fines (about $55 million per year) and millions more to settle lawsuits. It can also improve their chances for retaining their best employees and reduce the likelihood of offending customers who might be put off by inappropriate behavior or language at a sales meeting, for example, a convention or business dinner.

"Even if there were no laws, companies would have to be crazy not to do anything to prevent harassment," said Jonathan Segal, a partner in Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP in Philadelphia.

Some employees who are subjected to or witness sexual harassment may decide not to report the incidents to management.

"Instead, when the opportunity arises, they will leave and take their contacts with them," said Segal, who also frequently writes for the Society for Human Resource Managers.

Clients and customers, meanwhile, may seem to laugh off a derogatory gender comment at a business dinner or an off-color joke at a sales meeting, Segal said.

"But many people are very conscious of who they give their money to. If customers are choosing between two people to do business with, and one of them makes comments that are offensive to them, they are not likely to partner with them or give that person their business," he said.

Ultimately, training employees and their supervisors about their rights and responsibilities is critical to any good anti-sexual harassment program.

"What you hear often in the courtroom is supervisors testifying that they 'didn't do anything'" to deal with a sexual harassment situation. That, unfortunately, is the whole key to the problem.

"In the eyes of the law, if a supervisor hears someone tell an inappropriate joke, but says nothing in response, it's as if that supervisor told the joke," Segal explained. "Supervisors need to understand that they must … respond proactively to the inappropriate behavior."

Training can also help a company in a number of other ways.

"If you do anti-harassment training right," he said, "teaching people how to express themselves in non-confrontational but direct ways to get their needs met, it can spill over into other areas and really provide conflict resolution."

The first step for creating an effective sexual harassment policy is to make sure it is clear to a company's employees, says attorney Jonathan Segal. Clear examples of the range of unacceptable workplace behavior — from sexual jokes, slurs, photographs, e-mails, and suggestive objects to inappropriate touching, aggression, and requests for sexual favors — are often the best way to effectively describe sexual harassment.

In other words, you don't need to explain all the contours of the law in order to be able to write a good policy that helps workers recognize sexual harassment. Here are some other key steps for putting together a strong, effective sexual harassment policy:

• Ensure that employees know to whom they can turn if they have felt harassed or discriminated against. At a minimum, companies need a "bypass policy" that allows employees to reach out to someone other than their own supervisor, preferably a choice of several people who are approachable about such matters.
  
  
• Make sure the policy is disseminated to everyone, and often. "It's not very effective if it is kept under lock and key," says Segal, of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP in Philadelphia. "All new hires should get it and the issue should be raised during orientation. Periodically, companies should also redistribute it to reinforce the commitment to non-discrimination."
  
  
• Finally, remember to train employees about their rights and responsibilities vis-a-vis sexual harassment, and also train supervisors about their role in preventing it.

Companies should consider expanding their sexual harassment policy to include policies about other forms of discrimination, such as ethnic or racial discrimination.

"The principles behind sexual harassment policies can apply equally to other kinds of discrimination," Segal says. Given the increase in the number of race and ethnicity harassment claims, companies should take a good look at those issues as well when developing their sexual harassment policies.

"Sometimes a problem in an organization is that its sexual harassment policy is too narrowly defined, leaving a gaping hole with regards to other kinds of harassment."