Suing Employer for Hostile Work Environment

Discover the difference between normal stress and stress caused by a hostile work environment so you can make an informed decision regarding legal recourse. Here’s what you need to know about suing employer for hostile work environment.

Suing Employer for Hostile Work Environment

Some employees can handle the stress. Some cannot. Some supervisors and managers are understanding of stress. Some are not. Most treat everyone the same. A few make life miserable for segments of the workforce and target them for some form of abuse.

A workplace can be difficult; even worse, it can be hostile. If your workplace is a hostile environment, you can bring a lawsuit against your employer. But you should know what makes up a legally hostile work environment compared with a generally difficult one. Certain conditions are required for a lawsuit to be appropriate and effective.

Learn more about employment law.

Normal Stress in the Workplace

Occasionally, employees are asked to work longer hours, or it becomes necessary to take on extra work or meet tighter deadlines. There are many stressful situations that occur all the time. This can lead to physical or mental exhaustion. Care should be taken to keep this from becoming a serious long-term problem.

There can be workers who are obnoxious or rude. There can be supervisors who are overbearing to everyone. A company might not offer the benefits and perks that employees expect or are hoping to receive. Workers can be unhappy at their work and feel overworked at times. But none of the above describes a hostile environment.

However, it could be the case that workers feel they might lose their jobs if they don’t get the work done properly or on time. They may dread going to the office every day. They may become depressed and turn to drugs or alcohol as a result. They may develop a physical illness that interferes with their ability to continue working at the same level or same pace. This is when it starts to look like a hostile environment.

If the workplace becomes a source of intimidation, harassment, or discrimination, it can be considered hostile. This could be subject to legal challenge. An employee must feel uncomfortable or fearful of his or her work-space due to the actions of an employer or coworker whose behavior is making it difficult or impossible for the employee to do the job.

Criteria for a Hostile Workplace

If almost every workplace exhibits stress, how can you determine if it is hostile?

For a workplace to be considered hostile, specific legal criteria must be met, including:

• The actions or behavior in the workplace discriminate against a protected classification, such as religion, gender, age, race, or disability
• The actions must be frequent or pervasive – they happen consistently
• The problem is significant and has not been addressed by the organization
• The hostile actions disrupt the employee’s work or career progress
• The employer knew (or should have known) about the actions and did not sufficiently intervene

Harassment is a form of employment discrimination that is a violation of several laws including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA).

Harassment is illegal conduct against a protected class including race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

When the enduring offensive behavior becomes a condition of continued employment or advancement, harassment becomes unlawful. When the behavior is severe enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive – this is harassment.

Offensive behavior includes rude jokes, racial slurs, epithets or name calling; physical assaults or threats of a physical nature; intimidation, insults, ridicule or mockery; offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance.

One example of a hostile work environment is a supervisor repeatedly asking a new mother to stay late to meet impossible deadlines and threatens to fire her if she does not.

Another example is a female employee who is constantly harassed by her male co-workers, touched inappropriately, or made to feel uncomfortable by lewd comments. Male employees can be harassed by female employees in a similar fashion.

Harassment can come from any number of individuals in the workplace, including a supervisor, an agent of the company, a coworker, a vendor who is controlled by the company, or a non-employee.

The victim does not have to be the individual being harassed. It can be anyone affected by the offensive behavior. Additionally, the harassment does not have to result in economic consequences or discharge.

It is also prohibited to harass or otherwise intimidate employees in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge against a company, or for testifying against / participating in an investigation (called the whistleblower’s policy).

Exploring Your Legal Action

The first step you would need to take if you are experiencing a hostile work environment is to ask the offending employee to stop the behavior or communication. If you find this difficult to do on your own, you should solicit help from a manager or Human Resources.

You need to put the offending employee on notice that their behavior is offensive, discriminatory, and inappropriate, and that you won’t tolerate it. Often, this will be enough for those employees who were ignorant of the offensiveness of their actions, or because they are embarrassed by your directness.

The next step is to report the incident to your employer who must have the opportunity to investigate the complaint and end the behavior. This is necessary before you can bring a suit against the employer.

If the employer does not respond to correct the problem, you have a probable cause to file a lawsuit. The company can avoid liability only if it can prove that it reasonably tried to prevent and/or correct the harassing behavior, or if it can prove you failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities that it provided.

Prevention is the Best Tool

So, the question remains… Can I sue my employer for creating a hostile work environment?

Most employers today are conscious of the potential harm in harassment and a hostile work environment. They have policies in place and training programs to raise awareness and deal swiftly with any incidents that may occur. In most cases, employers provide an environment where employees feel safe and free to raise concerns that will be addressed. But there are exceptions. If you feel you are a victim of workplace hostility or harassment, you do have legal recourse.