Anti-Harassment Policy and Training: More Important Than Ever

What the Supreme Court Says

Most employers are aware that the responsibility for eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace resides with them. The Supreme Court has made this clear ' and workplace training is an important component in preventing sexual harassment claims. In 1998, the Supreme Court issued two decisions that dramatically impacted employers' ability to protect themselves from sexual harassment-related lawsuits. In Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, the Supreme Court held that an employer can be liable, even though it is not negligent or otherwise at fault, for a hostile work environment created by a supervisor. An employer may defend such a lawsuit, provided that there has been no tangible adverse employment action taken against the employee, by establishing that it exercised reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct any harassment, and that the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to otherwise avoid harm. Cases that have been decided since these Supreme Court rulings have emphasized the importance of effectively communicating the company's sexual harassment policy to employees; this is routinely done through sexual harassment training.