Thursday, May 16, 2013

If harassment becomes assault, costs soar - Business Management ...

Here?s more incentive for actively working to prevent sexual har??assment: If a co-worker crosses the line from harassment to assault, the consequences may be dire.

In Pennsylvania, an assaulted em??ployee doesn?t just have a Title VII sexual harassment and sex discrimination case. She may also have a case of? intentional infliction of emotional distress if she can show that the em??ployer didn?t have reasonable prevention mechanisms in place and thus allowed the attack to happen.

Recent case: Victoria worked for Retro Fitness, a chain of health clubs. Her supervisor was the brother of one of her co-workers. Early on, Victoria claimed she endured sexual taunts and touching by several co-workers. She said one forced her to watch pornography. She also claimed her supervisor had seen the harassment, but either laughed it off or ignored it.

Then her supervisor?s brother allegedly sexually assaulted her in a back room. She reported it to police and the brother was arrested. He was eventually convicted of multiple offenses, including indecent assault.

The health club fired Victoria a few months later, allegedly for taking an unapproved day off. Meanwhile, until his trial, her supervisor?s brother continued to work for Retro Fitness.

Victoria sued, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress, along with harassment.

Retro Fitness argued she could not sue for emotional distress be??cause her injury was work-related and thus covered by workers? compensation. The court disagreed because an assault is outside the scope of a co-worker?s job. (Graudins v. Retro Fitness, No. 11-6466, ED PA, 2013)

Final note: If Victoria wins her intentional-infliction-of-distress claim, the sky is the limit for the award. Unlike Title VII claims, which have a cap depending on the employer?s size, there are no caps on a jury award for intentional infliction of distress.

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