Supreme Court Issues Four Decisions Favorable to Employers

Every company that has defended itself against a harassment claim under employment discrimination laws understands that dealing with harassment allegations is time-consuming, expensive, and, at a minimum, unpleasant for all employees involved.' Further, a company sued for harassment also may be exposed to bad press and an expensive settlement or a large court judgment. Fortunately, a recent Supreme Court decision has made it a little easier to defend your company against harassment allegations under federal employment discrimination laws.

One of the most important issues in any harassment case is whether an alleged harasser is a “supervisor.” This is because the legal standards are different if the alleged harassment is committed by a supervisor or a co-employee. Pursuant to well-established Supreme Court precedent, it is much easier for an employee to obtain a judgment against a company if he or she was harassed by a supervisor because a company is “vicariously liable” (i.e., directly liable) for harassment committed by a supervisor. By contrast, when a non-supervisory co-employee is responsible for the alleged harassment, the company cannot be directly liable and can avoid exposure by asserting the so-called Faragher/Ellerth defense by showing that it exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct any harassment ' usually by implementing and following a well-drafted anti-harassment policy.