You Can be Sued for Employee Harassment Outside of Work Hours

As an employer with employees, you hopefully take special care to avoid discrimination, harassment, or the feeling that any employee is being treated in a hostile or insulting way. That’s in the office. But what about outside of it? Could your business get sued if an employee feels harassed outside of work hours?

Before you think that your obligation to avoid harassment and discrimination ends at the end of the workday, think again. It doesn’t matter what the clock or schedule says when it comes to whether you can be liable for harassment.

When Supervisors are Involved

Managers, vice presidents, or other upper level employees have a supervisory position in and out of work. That means that any interaction between a boss or supervisor and an employee can lay the grounds or framework for harassment.

In fact, many kinds of harassment happen outside of work—imagine a boss who takes a lower employee to dinner, and then conditions work promotions on further dates.  Imagine employees go to dinner with a corporate vice president who, at dinner, makes jokes about all the “old people” in the office.

These kinds of interactions happen outside of work hours. But the boss-employee dynamic is still there, and thus, so too is the chance of lawsuits based on harassment and discrimination.

Harassment Between Co-Workers

But what if the harassment is happening outside of work, but between equal co-workers—there is no supervisor or boss involved?

Yes, the company can still be liable, if employees harass, insult, demean, or threaten other employees to the extent that a hostile work environment is created.

These kinds of cases hinge on how much the employer knows about what is going on outside of work hours. But if the employer knows or has reason to know that employees are humiliating a woman, an older worker, a worker of a protected race or nationality, or any other protected class, the employer has an obligation to act to do something about it—even though these events may have happened “off the clock.”

The Relationship Matters

In order to have discrimination or harassment that can subject your company to lawsuits, all that is needed is the relationship between company, co-workers, and the aggrieved worker. It doesn’t matter where the activity actually happens or when.

The place where harassment occurs doesn’t have to be a sanctioned work event—although it can be. Work lunches, retreats, weekend planning sessions, or holiday parties can all be breeding grounds for discrimination lawsuits. And no, intoxication won’t be a defense; if an employee is harassed by a drunk supervisor or co-worker outside of work, that’s still harassment.

Reporting Discrimination

The obligation by the employee to report discrimination or hostile work environment harassment always exists, but it is even more important when these activities happen outside of work hours. Generally, your company will be assumed to have known about harassment, if there is a management-level employee there or involved.

Avoid lawsuits from employees in your business. Call the West Palm Beach business litigation lawyers at Pike & Lustig today for help with your commercial and employment litigation case.

Source:

everfi.com/blog/workplace-training/sexual-harassment-outside-of-work/