{"id":37337,"date":"2016-03-31T19:25:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T00:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/one-sexual-harassment-law-suit-can-devastate-even-the-largest.html"},"modified":"2016-07-27T16:24:25","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T21:24:25","slug":"one-sexual-harassment-law-suit-can-devastate-even-the-largest","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/litigation-disputes\/one-sexual-harassment-law-suit-can-devastate-even-the-largest.html","title":{"rendered":"Sexual Harassment and Corporate Liability"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Having sexual harassment policies in place is no guaranty that your clients or their employees are adequately protected. After all, many businesses still make common mistakes<\/a> particularly when it comes to investigating claims of harassment and discrimination. For example, they may fail to maintain confidentiality to remind parties about policies regarding retaliation. <\/p>\n

If you represent corporate clients, it’s important to ensure that their policies, both in writing and in practice, sufficiently protect their employees and reduce risks of liability. This is especially important considering the prospect of multi-million dollar verdicts<\/a>. Read on to learn more about sexual harassment in the corporate workplace and ways to protect your clients.<\/p>\n

What’s the Law on Sexual Harassment?<\/b><\/p>\n

While there may be applicable state laws in your client’s jurisdiction (e.g. wrongful termination laws), if your client or company has 15 or more employees, it will also be subject to EEOC enforcement under Title VII<\/a>. EEOC complaints normally involve a formal investigation and findings and could also lead to a federal lawsuit being filed by an employee or by the EEOC itself.<\/p>\n

Generally, to succeed on a federal claim of sexual harassment, an employee must show:<\/p>\n

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  1. Unwelcome harassment of a sexual nature,<\/li>\n
  2. That the harassment affected a term, condition or privilege of employment, and<\/li>\n
  3. A basis for employer liability.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are primarily two types of sexual harassment cases depending on whether the employee experienced any resulting tangible employment actions such as termination, failure to promote or hire, reassignment, or lost wages. In these cases, employers are automatically liable for sexual harassment. However, in cases where no tangible employment action exists, an employee can still sue for creation of a hostile work environment in which case an employer is liable, unless:<\/p>\n