We've never had to deal with any type of harassment before so we don't have any experience to draw from. Employees Jane & Jim have worked together a few years and developed a friendship no different than any other employees that have worked together a while. Jim (a superior in the company) sends Jane (a subordinate, although not in direct report to Jim) an email in which she takes the content as a joke. Later, Jim sends Jane another email and again she takes the content as a joke. She decides to share these emails with her supervisor, Bill as she thinks they are funny. After Bill reads them he discusses with Jane that he feels the content is inappropriate, especially coming from a superior. Jane tells Bill that she just thinks they are funny and that's how her relationship is with Jim and she doesn't want him to say anything to anyone about it. Now Bill comes to me with his concern in not only a superior in the company is sending what he considers inappropriate emails but he also wonders if he has a responsibility to do anything even though Jane has asked him not to.

So that's my question. What are our responsibilities when the receiving person doesn't want anything done and doesn't feel anything wrong has taken place? What if in her sharing these with Bill she is subconsciously asking for help?

Allowing for jokes to be sent through company e-mails is always a potential source for creating a hostile work environment. I'm sure that your code of conduct addresses such things. I would have management approach Jim and tell them that it was noticed during an IT audit that he was sending non-work related e-mails and that he is on notice to knock it off. There is really nothing much more to do at this point.

Do they violate the bank's policy on emails or inappropriate behavior?

fwiw, I don't buy the 'subconsciously asking for help' bit. We're talking about grown-ups here. Don't get on the merry-go-round of Jim to Jane to Bill.

Maybe nothing more than a general email to all employees restating the email policy is required to stop this from happening...at least for awhile. Then in the next management meeting, a general admonishment along the same lines should suffice without calling anyone out.

I've not seen the emails as Bill is trying to keep everything anonymous. I don't believe Jim is telling a joke but instead is making inappropriate comments to Jane that she is taking as just funny statements. I've been advised from a resource we use for HR issues that we now have a responsibility to investigate the situation. Still not sure how we'll proceed.

Even if Jane didn't recieve the comments as inappropriate, the fact that another employee did means you need to investigate. Imagine if Jim's comments had been said aloud and another employee overheard them. If it made the other employee uncomfortable, you have a problem.

Now that you have been made aware of the situation, I think you need to investigate. Investigate doesn't mean terminate. As the other posters said, there are other methods you could use to get the message across.

Maybe Jane isn't the first person to whom Bill has sent his "joke" emails. Perhaps there have been others who were offended by his emails and have left the company and there are others still employed with some undisclosed grievance.

If you do nothing after becoming aware of a situation and a different "Jane" complains in the future & files a harassment claim, a plaintiff's attorney may argue your institution turns a blind eye to harassment and just sweeps it under the rug.

This might be the tip of an iceberg. You should consult with your in-house or outside counsel to insure you handle this matter properly.

Just keep in mind, Jane isn't complaining so there doesn't seem to be a harassment issue with Jim.
No matter where she got them from, Jane sent the emails to Bill who took offense.
Which brings me back to, you're twice removed from the source.
Additionally, Bill took offense 'especially because they came from a superior'.
This sounds like something that needs to be addressed in a management meeting or a private HR & Bill & Jim meeting.
Maybe I'm naive but I don't see harassment in this.

I tend to agree, there needs to be someone claiming the status of a "victim," to be real harassment. However, if an employee has said or done things that would be offensive to some people you don't want to wait until he or she finds the person who would be truly offended by such actions.

Whether there was another car in the intersection or not, it's still wrong to run the stop sign.

if you've not seen the emails, then how can you assess if it is a joke or an inappropriate comment he made to her she found funny? If Jane has told Bill it doesn't bother her, and Bill is bothered by Jane sharing the content, then in fact, Bill's issue is with Jane sharing inappropriate emails, Jane is the one that should first be counseled. You may choose to include both Jane and Jim in the conversation about what is and what is not the intended use of company email, but you also need to determine if Bill is making a claim of harrasment, and if so, whom against. If no claim is being lodged, you have nothing to investigate, but should still point out to both the email issue.

This is like trying to follow a logic proof from math class!

If, then, and, or...

For real!

FWIW, I don't see it as investigatable? harassment...a violation of email policy? Possibly, but even that can only be determined by that FI...if it's not covered in policy, perhaps it should be...to be on the safe side.

I'm having a problem classifying this as harassment as well, but will admit I'm not an HR Expert.....You have the word of Bill and his 'feelings' and nothing else - could Bill have an axe to grind with Jim for some reason, or be jealous of the relationship Jim has with co-workers in general or Jane specfically. Has anyone else in the whole wide company indicated a concern?
Feel like there must be more to the story - if there's not, how does it reach the definition of harassment?

Well, Bill talked to Jane again and she doesn't want anything done. Since Bill did not reveal to me either the email or the sender then I don't have anyone to investigate. Jane told Bill that if this type email continues then she will meet with me to discuss further.

a former employer used tidbits like this to terminate employees when their jobs were no longer needed. Employees were given warnings about violating the email policy by HR and regardles of whether they ceased or not, a lot of them were terminated months later with no warning. Company was in the process of moving a lot of their operations out of the area and I believe used this as a tool to avoid paying severance to the long time employees.

Jane: Hey Bill (Supervisor), can I tell you something off the record?
Bill: You are more than welcome to tell me anything, but as your manager, I'm afraid it may not be "off the record".

I agree with some of the posters above. Send out a blanket e-mail reiterating company e-mail policy and tell stupid Jim to sign up for E-Harmony on his own time. Good job Bill.