While there is no guarantee that you will like your job, you should be guaranteed to have a workplace free from harassment.

Unfortunately, harassment in the workplace does occur though. When harassment does occur, your employer has a legal responsibility to address the problem.

What happens if your employer doesn’t take action?

Is an employer liable for failing to deal with harassment in the workplace? The answer is “maybe”.

Despite the enactment of numerous anti-discrimination laws at both the state and federal level over the last several decades, employment discrimination does still occur.

Often, acts of discrimination are single acts, such as refusing to hire someone on the basis of gender or race; however, in other instances discrimination takes the form of ongoing harassment in the workplace.

When that is the case, an employer has a legal duty to do something about the harassment.

The term “harassment” means different things to different people. In the eyes of the law though harassment is defined as “unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Not all acts of harassment are illegal though.

Harassment becomes unlawful when either of the following is true:

• Enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment OR
• The conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.

Harassment can be the result of conduct on the part of an employer, another employee, or even a non-employee on the premises. An employer is automatically liable for harassment on the part of a supervisor that results in a negative employment action such as termination.

If a supervisor’s harassment results in a hostile work environment the only way an employer can avoid liability if it the employer can show both of the following:

• The employer reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior AND
• The employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

Liability on the part of an employer for harassment by a non-supervisory employee or a non-employee may occur if the employer knew, or should have known, about the harassment and failed to take prompt and appropriate corrective action.

If you have believe you are the victim of harassment in the workplace, contact the experienced Florida employment law attorneys at Celler Legal, P.A. by calling 954-716-8601 to schedule your appointment.