I agree with most of your post but I disagree with the bolded.
There cant be an expectation to act on an accusation alone.
Or maybe you can expand what you mean by 'acted on'.
Its possible I may be misinterpreting something.
Too many people these days make false accusations so an investigation has to be done in this situation to figure out the truth.
That takes time and when a team is on a Stanley Cup run all resposibilities dont stop to faciliate an investigation between team members. One of which is claiming advances were made and the other is claiming the encounter was mutual. Clearly is was inapproprite regardless of who was telling the truth but aside from that it was going to take some dedicated time to investigate things.
The reality of the team situation on that Cup run just means that things are going to take longer to sort out and therefore the process is more likely to become fragmented.
Mistakes are more likely to be made.
This isnt directed at you (as i think we are on the same page) but this situation isnt as black and white/cut and dried as some posters like to suggest.
I have to admit I am surprised that all this is still being discussed. At some point we need to move on IMO.
Yes an investigation has to take place. When i said it needed to be acted on i didnt auto mean fired right away but an investigation of some sorts needs to start right away. The fact of the matter is. Mcdonough waited weeks until he told HR and he only told them after another employee also made a complaint about aldrich during the cup celebration. Aldrich was then told he would be facing an investigation by HR and he chose to resign instead.
The issue was Mcdonough waited for weeks before he even told HR who presumably are the ones who would investigate the claims and should have been first people he notified instead of discussing it in a meeting with quenneville, mcisaac, bowman, and chevy without even telling Human Resources.
Quennevilles comments about not wanting to hear about this distraction coz hes focused on a cup look bad optically, but ultimately mcdonough the one who was in charge said he would take care of it.
While it took several weeks, aldrich eventually resigned so bowman and everyone else probably figured that was the end result of an investigation that took multiple weeks that Mcdonough did and he took charge rather than the truth that Mcdonough was sitting on his hands the whole time those several weeks and withholding it from HR until another employee complained during cup celebration and aldrich resigned as soon as he heard there would be investigation.
They also should have pulled aldrich aside and forbade him from having contact with beech while they were investigating the claims which they didnt do because mcd was just sitting on the i fo instead of actually investigating. Granted he didnt think the situation was as serious as sexual assualt and was just unwarranted sexual advances, but he still botched how he handled it.
Notably Mcdonough vanished from hockey and the public eye some years earlier and never spoke publically or answered questions even through a lawyer or spokesperson while bowman and quenneville(while he did allegedly make unsavory tone deaf comments) both were left to take the heat for the actions of their superior because people wanted blood and Mcdonough was long gone so someone else had to pay for him