Does the new jurisdiction cover harassment by co-workers?
The new statute does cover harassment by co-workers that the employer knows or should have known about, and that creates a hostile working environment for the victimized employee. To determine whether a hostile working environment exists, we would look at such factors as severity, pervasiveness, egregiousness, and frequency of the adverse acts, and whether they were based on the victim’s sexual orientation or perception of sexual orientation. The type of working environment is also important. In some types of workplaces, everyone treats everyone else with raw and crude language. We would also look to see if the conditions of work had been changed by the harassment, and whether the employer had taken appropriate action to stop the harassment. Employers should also have anti-discrimination policies in place. Q. What financial penalties can be brought against employers for allowing harassment or discriminatory behavior against employees because of their sexual orientation? Generally, is o
