Employers, has this ever happened to you?

A guy (we'll call him "Ryan") comes to work for you through a temporary agency. The agency issues the paychecks and generally acts as Ryan's "HR" representative. Your company pays the agency but does not directly pay Ryan.

But when Ryan comes to work, he is supervised by Michael, who is one of your employees. Michael takes Ryan under his ...

We have reached the fifth and final of our five harassment "must-haves": No retaliation.

It should be easy to avoid retaliation, right? Because retaliatory conduct is intentional - you can't "accidentally" retaliate against someone. You can't "negligently" seek payback.

To retaliate, you have to work at it.

Of course, that would make life way too simple. Employers can ...

Many, many years ago, as an associate, I got to help defend the worst harassment investigation of my career. The entire investigation went essentially like this: MANAGER: "Lucy [not her real name] says you sexually harassed her. Is that true?" ACCUSED: "I ain't crazy." *End of investigation.* Oh. Except that the manager documented it, too. *Head slap* .

 In this manager's defense, he was ...