Managers Required to Stop Harassment from Outsiders 10-04-2006
- By Rita Risser, attorney at law

Managers sometimes feel helpless when their subordinates are harassed by outsiders such as customers or vendors. What can the manager do to stop the harassment? A recent Court of Appeals case affirms that managers must take "all steps necessary" to prevent the harassment.

Although the particular case involved a woman corrections officer who was being harassed by prison inmates, the same principles apply no matter who is the harasser.

Employers are liable for the acts of non-employees when they "know or should have known of the conduct" and fail to "take immediate and appropriate corrective action." The court noted that "[t]his theory of liability is grounded not in the harassing act itself - i.e., inmate misconduct - but rather in the employer's 'negligence and ratification' of the harassment through its failure to take appropriate and reasonable responsive action." Freitag v. Ayers (9th Cir 09/13/2006)

What You Should Do: If outsiders harass your employees, you can start with a documented verbal warning. If that doesn't work, they should be banned from the premises.

 

Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.