Customer Sexual Harassment and Employee Rights

Employees in businesses throughout Palm Beach Gardens and South Florida more generally should know that they have broad protections against sexual harassment in the workplace. Both the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protect against sex discrimination in employment, and sex discrimination protections include prohibitions against sexual harassment. While these laws only apply to “covered” employers, which means private employers with 15 or more employees as well as public or government employers, the protections cover a wide range of employment contexts and workplaces in Florida. Even if your employer is not covered, you may still have options if you are experiencing sexual harassment.

A common issue that arises in sexual harassment cases is whether an employee can have a legitimate sexual harassment claim when the party doing the harassing is not a supervisor or manager, or even a co-worker, but instead a customer or a client of the business. In short, employers can be liable when customers or clients sexually harass employees in a manner that creates a hostile work environment. An experienced Palm Beach Gardens sexual harassment lawyer can explain.

Understanding Types of Unlawful Sexual Harassment in Florida Workplaces 

There are two different kinds of unlawful sexual harassment in Florida workplaces: quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environment harassment. Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when a supervisor, manager, or other employee in a supervisory position asks an employee for sexual favors in exchange for a benefit to the employee (ranging from the ability for the employee to keep their job to added benefits in the workplace). In order for this type of sexual harassment to be unlawful, the party asking for or hinting at sexual favors (from a date to performing sexual acts) must be in a supervisory position. Accordingly, employers are not liable when customers or clients of a business engage in acts that look like quid pro quo harassment.

However, employers can be liable for sexual harassment perpetrated by customers that rises to the level of a hostile work environment. A hostile work environment is a work environment that “a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive,” according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Generally, a single act is not sufficient to create a hostile work environment (unless it is severe or egregious), and petty slights or annoyances are not sufficient.

Employer Liability When Customers Create a Hostile Work Environment

 Employers have a responsibility to ensure a workplace is free from sexual harassment. Accordingly, if an employer knows of a hostile work environment created by a customer, they have a responsibility to take action.

Contact Our Palm Beach Gardens Sexual Harassment Attorneys 

If you are dealing with a workplace in which a customer has created a hostile work environment through their acts of sexual harassment, it is important to find out about your legal options. You do not have to be the employee targeted to file a hostile work environment claim, although you can be. Any employee who is impacted by the hostile work environment created may be able to move forward with a claim. One of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens sexual harassment lawyers at Sconzo Law Office can talk with you today to learn more about your employment situation and to advise you about next steps in a sexual harassment case.

Sources:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0760/Sections/0760.01.html

eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964

eeoc.gov/harassment