This case discussed complaints made by four female employees of Anheuser-Busch as a result of sexual harassment and retaliation caused by a co-worker during a 10-year period. The first complaints against Bill Robinson began in 1993. He was finally terminated as a result of his behavior in July of 2003. The next month, while investigations into two fires that he caused were going on, Robinson shot his girlfriend and then killed himself. The court’s decision made a number of points that all employers should keep in mind:
- Employers may be held liable for off-premises acts of retaliation under Title VII anti-retaliation provisions.
- A judge or jury may consider similar acts of harassment of which a plaintiff was aware during the course of his or her employment, even if the acts were directed at others or occurred outside of their presence. This evidence can be used to establish a generally hostile work environment.
- A company may be liable for co-worker harassment if its response manifests indifference or unreasonableness in light of the facts the employer new or should have known.
- An employer may be held liable when its remedial response is merely negligent, however well intentioned.
- An employer’s responsibility to prevent future harassment is heightened when it’s dealing with a known serial harasser.
- The best anti-discrimination policy in the world will not help the employer who, rather than fulfill its duty to act on complaints of a serial harasser, lets a known harasser continue to injure new victims.
- Companies that take affirmative steps, reasonably calculated to prevent and put an end to a pattern of harassment — such as personally counseling harassers, sending them letters emphasizing the company’s policies and the seriousness of the allegations against them, and threatening harassers with serious discipline if future allegations are substantiated — are more likely to have been deemed to have responded appropriately.
- Finally, an employer may be liable for co-worker retaliation if this would dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination, management knows or should have know of the conduct, and fails to act in a reasonable manner.
Read more about this case here.
