What to do if…
you are asked to meet privately to “clear the air” after sexual harassment and you do not feel safe doing so

What to do now

1. Reply briefly and clearly that you will not attend a private meeting. Keep it simple: you are not willing to discuss this alone, and any next step must be through HR, a formal grievance route, or another manager who is not involved.

2. Ask for communication in writing for now. If they want to raise anything, ask them to send it by email or through your workplace process so there is a record.

3. Check your employer’s harassment, grievance, dignity at work, or speak-up policy and use the reporting route it gives. If you already reported the harassment, add this meeting request as a new concern and say plainly that you do not feel safe being asked to meet privately.

4. Ask for a safer format if any meeting is needed: a formal grievance meeting, HR present, a neutral manager, written questions instead of a live discussion, or a remote meeting if that feels safer.

5. If you are invited to a formal grievance meeting about your complaint, ask to bring a companion. In the UK, workers have a statutory right to be accompanied at grievance meetings that deal with a complaint about a duty owed by the employer. If the meeting is only described as informal or investigatory, the legal right may not apply in the same way, but it is still reasonable to ask for accompaniment.

6. Save the practical details now: who asked, when, exact wording such as “clear the air,” whether the request was private or informal, and anything that made it feel unsafe. Send yourself a dated note or keep it somewhere you can access later.

7. Ask for interim separation steps while this is being handled. That can include no direct contact, no one-to-one meetings, communication through HR or a named manager only, a temporary change in seating or work location, different reporting lines, or rota changes where possible.

8. If you have a union, contact your representative now. If you do not, and you need help understanding workplace options or grievance handling, contact Acas.

9. If you think raising this may also be protected as whistleblowing from 6 April 2026, do not let anyone push you into keeping it off the record. Keep the concern in writing and use a formal reporting route.

10. If what happened included sexual assault, threats, stalking, or you are afraid of being followed or cornered at work, treat this as a safety issue first. Get to a safer pause, contact someone you trust, and seek specialist support. Reporting to the police is your choice.