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Comment by trebor | Hacker News Reader

The only thing I would add to patio11's advice is to go back to the employee and let her know what's about to happen. If you do it without any warning, then yes she might feel that it was a breach of trust. But, if you tell her before you fire the guy you can maintain trust.

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A valid reason to give to the victim is that you're not just protecting her but any other current or potential victims (using nicer language than this). That will help her feel good about coming forth with the information; she's not causing trouble for the company but actually saving someone else from harassment.

Yes, I really liked patio11's likening it to embezzlement, being a crime against the company (although in the case of harassment, it is a crime against both the company and the individual recipients).

Speak to a lawyer ASAP and then absolutely before you act speak with the victim. Both parties could potentially sue, it's not unusual to try and ignore something during the shock phase and then have a change of feelings later. Her simply wanting it to not happen again isn't quite enough. you know about it now too.. Lawyer up, you'll likely terminate the jerk and have some documents for the victim to sign

This. Do not make this person feel as if you did the one thing they precisely didn't want you to do. Doing so means future incidents (of any sort - people don't like to talk to betrayers) are unlikely to be reported at best.

Earlier advice regarding lawyer up, for gods sakes still applies, but you now have a human obligation to the person who reported this in confidence.

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