From the National Law Journal —
Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Freeman v. Dal-Tile formally adopted a negligence standard for analyzing an employer’s liability for third-party harassment under Title VII, observing that “an employer cannot avoid Title VII liability for [third-party] harassment by adopting a ‘see no evil, hear no evil strategy.’ “
Similar to the reasoning underlying employer liability for hostile work environments created by coworkers, employers may now be held liable under Title VII for work environments created by third parties, assuming the employer knew — or should have known — of the workplace harassment and failed to take prompt remedial action reasonably calculated to end the harassment. Thus, the negligence standard for employer liability within the Fourth Circuit is now the same for hostile work environments created by coworkers or third parties…..
Read the full story at Bosses Now Liable for Harassment by Third Parties
