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Recent Harassment Case Illustrates Importance of Corrective Action and Consistency in the Enforcement of Harassment Policies ( April 2006 )
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Austin v. Norfolk Southern Corp., 158 Fed. Appx. 374 (3d Cir. 2005) recently issued a decision finding that in certain situations, an employer’s efforts to eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace may be considered sufficient and nondiscriminatory even if the complaining employee continues to experience harassment on a lower scale. The court also tackled the issue of successor-employer liability and whether the actions of a former employer may be imputed to the successor employer to show retaliation in violation of Title VII. -
The Time Has Come to Train Supervisors on Preventing Workplace Violence ( November 2004 )
Workplace violence has significantly escalated to the point where managements need to include a focused program on preventing, recognizing, and resolving workplace violence. It is no longer a potential. There are real numbers. -
Sexual Harassment Claims Defense: What the Mediator Looks For ( September 1996 )
From Thanksgiving through this past Christmas, lawyers scrambled to settle (mostly through mediation) their clients' sex harassment employment claims to beat Congress's year-end legislation triggering psychological injury damage (without physical injury) awards to become taxable earned income as of January 1, 1996. In other words, employment claims for psychological injury from sexual harassment would become taxable, spiraling upward demands to settle for the same net recovery and costing companies more. As a result, these claims poured into year-end mediation funnels nationwide in order to be settled by December 31. -
Dissatisfied Employees Sue at Record Pace ( October 2004 )
Lawyers Weekly USA newspaper reported a 2004 Chubb Insurance Co. survey of private employers wherein pervasive statistics reveal unprecedented employee unrest: One in four companies surveyed had been sued by an employee or former employee in recent years, one in five had received a discrimination complaint filed with the EEOC or similar state agency. -
Sexual Harassment by a Supervisor Can Trigger Employer Liability ( May 2004 )
When a supervisor subjects an employee to a "tangible employment action" (i.e. hiring, firing, loss of pay, demotion), the employer can be held strictly liable, eliminating employer defenses such as prompt investigation and remedial action. -
Train Supervisors on Preventing Workplace Violence ( January 2005 )
Nearly two million American workers per year are victims of physical attack at their workplace. Based upon a 1993 study published by Northwestern National Life Insurance Co., Fear and Violence in the Workplace, an additional six million workers were threatened, 16 million were harassed, and between July 1992 and July 1993, nearly one in four workers was reported to have been harassed, threatened or attacked on the job. -
Sexual Favoritism: When an Office Romance Can Result in a Hostile Work Environment Claim ( September 2005 )
In a groundbreaking development, the California Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous decision holding that widespread sexual favoritism in the workplace may create a hostile work environment for other employees. See Miller v. Department of Corrections. -
Employers Face Greater Risk From Workplace Romance: California Supreme Court Rules That Office Affairs May Give Rise To Sexual Favoritism Claims ( August 2005 )
Employees in California may now sue their employers for sexual harassment if a sexual affair between a supervisor and a subordinate results in "sexual favoritism" creating a hostile work environment for those employees not involved in the affair. A unanimous California Supreme Court in Miller v. Department of Corrections held that consensual sexual affairs may constitute sexual harassment if "sexual favoritism" – giving preference with regard to the terms of employment to a lover to the detriment of other employees – is sufficiently widespread to create an actionable hostile work environment under California's unlawful harassment law.
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