Retaliatory Harassment: Actionable?
Publication
3.20.06
We know that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employer is strictly liable if a supervisor creates a hostile work environment, unless the employer has taken prompt remedial action which ends the harassment. But what is the employer’s liability when the perpetrators are co-workers and not supervisors and the harassment is retaliatory in nature? This article reports on a recent case in the 3rd Circuit which not only answers the question in the affirmative, but also raises some difficult questions as to who is a supervisor, when supervisor conduct short of actual harassment leads to strict employer liability and whether a trial can ever be avoided when a retaliatory harassment claim has its origin in a sexual harassment complaint.
This article appeared in the March 20, 2006 issue of the New Jersey Lawyer. It was later published in the New Jersey Defense, vol. 23, issue 1.
Related People
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- David J. Treibman
- Of Counsel