ABA Family Legal Guide

Law and the Workplace

On the Job

Sexual Harassment

Is an employer liable for hostile environment harassment?

It depends on who has created the hostile environment. The employer is liable when supervisors or managers are responsible for the hostile environment, unless the employer can prove that it exercised reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct harassing behavior and that the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

When coworkers and/or customers create the harassment, the employer is liable if it is negligent in addressing the problem. Thus, if the employer knew or reasonably should have known of the harassment and failed to take prompt and effective remedial action to end the harassment, it may be liable.

Remedial action usually requires a prompt investigation and corrective action. The action taken by the employer should be in proportion to the severity of the offense. Employers are not required to terminate alleged harassers in all situations. Employers must address employee harassment complaints and are not excused from acting on the basis that the complaint was uncorroborated and/or was denied by the harasser.