Harassment Liability:
The High Court Weighs In

08/19/08

On some issues related to sexual harassment, the laws have been fairly clear. For example, if an employee is demoted, fired or subjected to an extreme pay cut due to supervisor harassment, the employer is automatically held liable.

But let's say the employee isn't demoted, fired or gets a pay cut - what if that employee claims he or she has been forced to quit to escape harassment?

In labor law, this is known as "constructive discharge." The U.S. Supreme Court recently clarified the liability standards for these cases. The court ruled that a company can be held automatically liable for supervisor harassment that results in constructive discharge, if the employee can prove that quitting was the only alternative because working conditions were so intolerable. The court also upheld an employer's right to avoid corporate liability for supervisor harassment showing it took measures to prevent and correct harassment, that it had procedures in place for reporting harassment, that the former employee didn't use them and that no corporate action had been taken against the individual. This standard applies in all types of harassment cases (e.g., race, religion, age, etc).

G.Neil has developed a harassment prevention program and the aptly titled "From Sex to Religion" harassment video to train your supervisors and employees, and help keep your company out of harassment trouble.