Your company is a garbage retrieval business. One of your male employees became romantically involved with a female he met while servicing her home. The branch manager receives a call one day from the female, who states the employee raped her in her home and she wants compensation for the mental distress she has sustained. The branch manager reports the call to the local HR representative, who replies that the company is not liable and will not pay any money. Neither the branch manager nor the local HR representative report the incident to the main office and neither conduct an investigation, although the branch manager speaks to the employee about the incident. The employee states that the relationship ended and the female is just angry. He is adamant he never assaulted the woman. The woman remains a customer on the employee's route. Please discuss this incident from an HR Manager's perspective. Was it handled appropriately? How could it have been handled differently? Are there any laws implicated by the scenario? Should any action be taken against anyone (the branch manager, the employee, the local HR representative, or the customer)? If so, what action and why? If not, why not?