What Laws Must Employers Follow to Prevent and Address Workplace Harassment?
There are several state and federal laws in place that protect employees from harassment and can influence your business, such as:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity and expression.
- The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects employees from age discrimination, specifically discrimination against employees over 40.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits all forms of discrimination based on disability.
- The Pregnancy Discrimination Act protects pregnant workers from discrimination from clients or customers due to pregnancy.
- The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act prohibits discrimination against military service members based on military service.
These laws also prevent an employer from punishing a worker or committing acts of retaliation due to reporting customer acts of discrimination.
Are Employers Liable for Customer or Client Discrimination?
Employers are not automatically liable for the misconduct of other third parties. However, they become liable when they fail to remedy or prevent a hostile or offensive work environment that is known or should have known.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires employers to provide employees with nondiscriminatory working conditions. Since coworkers and third parties can influence working conditions, this standard applies to coworkers, customers, and vendor-based discrimination.
Employers must take appropriate actions when discrimination is reported so that it does not occur again. The first step should be to inform the third party that such behavior is forbidden, then separate the aggressor from the employee and the premises.
An employer should consider the following additional steps to ensure this does not happen again:
- The employer should confirm their company policy states that third-party discrimination is prohibited.
- The employer should investigate the incident.
- The employer should consider terminating any business relationships with the offending party.
- The employer should offer the employee an opportunity to work in an area with no contact with the third party.
- The employer should offer an opportunity for the employee to file a protective order against the offending party.
- The employer should offer the worker an opportunity to call law enforcement.
Additional mitigating measures by the employer can include:
- Educating employees and management to recognize discrimination and harassment by third parties
- Ensuring employees are aware of the reporting procedures and that workers will not suffer retaliation for reporting
- Providing third parties with copies of the employer’s anti-discrimination and harassment policies
- Surveying or auditing employees to determine the level or existence of third-party discrimination
An employer may avoid liability if they can meet a burden of proof showing both of the following:
- The employer exercised adequate and reasonable care to prevent and correct the harassing or discriminatory conduct and
- The worker unreasonably failed to utilize any preventative or corrective opportunities granted by the employer or to avoid additional harm.
What Happens if an Employer Fails to Address a Discrimination Claim?
If an employer fails to take a discrimination claim seriously, then an employee may consider a lawsuit. The best resource for this situation is to retain the knowledgeable and experienced help of attorneys at Brick Business Law, P.A.
Additional steps for a successful claim may include:
- Perform all steps of escalation at the workplace: If a supervisor fails to remedy a discriminatory situation, a worker may have additional steps to take. Report the inaction to HR or other parties. Review the employer’s policies on workplace complaints and follow all of the steps. After the steps have been taken, complaints are filed, and there is still no action, further steps must be taken.
- Keep Thorough Documentation: Copies of every interaction regarding the discriminatory behavior and the reporting actions must be kept. Keep copies of responses from the employer and any information regarding the discrimination, including time, place, aggressor, nature of the misconduct, specific verbiage, etc.
- File a complaint with the EEOC: If an employer remains inactive after a reasonable amount of time, a claim should be filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- Pursue a lawsuit: If an employer refuses mediation or investigation or fails to reach an appropriate agreement, the claim may need to escalate to a court of law. The EEOC will issue a right-to-sue notice, which clears the way for an attorney to file a civil claim for harassment against an employer.
Do You Need an Attorney?
If you have questions about an employee who is facing third-party discrimination, you have legal options. Call the attorneys of Brick Business Law, P.A., today in Tampa at 813-669-0122, St. Petersburg at 727-761-5519, or Venice at 941-541-1555, or complete a contact form to schedule your free consultation.
