Is vulgarity by customers considered sexual harassment?

I am a licensed stockbroker for a SOES firm. A SOES firm is a bit different from other brokerage firms in that all of our customers actually trade their own money in house. Each table consists of about 6 traders (our clients) and 1 broker. These men make outrageously lewd comments such as:

"That stock is asking to be raped"
"That stock is going down on me"

They continuously shout "fuck this shit" in such loud voices, the next office over can hear them. They throw chairs, keyboards, pens, mouse pads, you name it. No one will even go to them because they are so violent and we are all afraid to even approach them when they act like this.

Rita Risser's Response:

Generally the courts have held that vulgarities are not harassment as long as they are not directed at specific individuals. Since they are talking about stocks, not about your employees, this does not seem to be illegal behavior. Throwing things is another matter. If they throw stuff and hit people, or even get close, that may violate OSHA standards for providing a safe workplace, and also may be assault and battery. In that case, anyone who was hit (customer or employee) could probably sue both the customer and your firm.

However, there is another issue here, and that is what kind of work environment your firm wants to create. How can you expect to recruit and retain talented people to work in such a hell hole? The employer has the right to set its standards as high as it wants. Just because what they are doing is not illegal, doesn't mean that you have to tolerate it. You can and should have standards of conduct applicable to everyone who is on the premises. I suggest that management and employees of your firm get together and decide what are reasonable standards of conduct for your company. For example, outlawing all profanity would be excessive, but you certainly can require that people swear quietly. You also should absolutely prohibit throwing things.

If management feels that business would be lost by this, I suppose you could put them in a soundproof room somewhere, but I still would be worried about customers injuring each other by throwing things and your potential liability for that.

Good luck!

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