Severe and Pervasive Harassment at Work
What constitutes severe or pervasive harassment that alters working conditions and creates an abusive workplace environment? In California a victim of such harassment must satisfy both an objective and a…
Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment
Under State and Federal law hostile work environment sexual harassment requires showing by the victim that he/she was subjected to unwelcome conduct that was based on sex and was sufficiently…
Emotional Distress Torts to Know
Elements needed for two independent torts for emotional distress: I. NEGLIGENT INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS Defendant engaged in negligent conduct (to be discussed in greater detail in a later post);…
Quid Pro Quo Harassment
In determining whether quid pro quo harassment occurred, the court may use either an objective or a subjective test. The objective test asks whether a reasonable person in the plaintiff's…
Types of Harassment
In California workplace harassment is prohibited. Most people think this only applies to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is certainly the most common form of harassment we see in our Courts,…
The Harasser
Under California Law the harasser is personally liable to the victim of the harassment. If the harasser is a supervisor, or in a supervisory position, the employer is also liable…
Harassment Feels Wrong
There are several legal definitions of what constitutes actionable workplace harassment. Some definitions are statutory (i.e., created by statute) while others are stated in case law (i.e., set forth by…