Employer Liability for Sexual Harassment

Answer:

We recently received a call from a client who worked in Los Angeles County and was asking if her employer would be liable if she was sexually harassed at work. Generally speaking, if the harassment happens by a supervisor, the employer is liable. What happens if the harassment happens by a co-worker who’s not a supervisor? Generally, it depends on if the employer knew or should have known that the employee was unfit and likely to harass. In that case, which was in LA County, an employee was harassing her, not a supervisor. What we found out during the case was that the supervisor likely did know about this harassment that was going on because the supervisors at work said, “Oh, that’s just Chris. Chris likes to hug all the women. He’s just affectionate. He’s really nice. He means no harm, but he does like to go around hugging women and squeezing them real tight.”