What is Third-Party Sexual Harassment?

What Is Third-Party Sexual Harassment?

When people think of workplace sexual harassment, they usually picture a coworker or a boss committing the act. But harassment doesn’t always come from inside the company. It can come from a client, customer, contractor, or vendor — anyone your job requires you to interact with. This is known as third-party sexual harassment, and it raises a question many employees have on their minds: can I sue my employer if it failed to prevent third-party sexual harassment?

The short answer is yes, in many circumstances. Here’s what you need to know.

Defining Third-Party Sexual Harassment

Third-party sexual harassment occurs when someone outside your employer’s payroll — a customer, client, contractor, or vendor — subjects you to unwelcome sexual advances, comments, or conduct while you’re doing your job. A server harassed by a regular customer, a sales representative propositioned by a client, or an office worker harassed by a maintenance contractor are all examples of third-party harassment.

Employees who regularly deal with the public — in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and sales — often face a higher risk of this type of harassment.

Third-Party Harassment vs. Sexual Harassment

Third-party harassment is legally distinct from supervisor sexual harassment, and the difference matters for how a case is evaluated.

Supervisor sexual harassment frequently involves quid pro quo sexual harassment. This occurs when a supervisor conditions a job benefit, such as a promotion, raise, or continued employment, on an employee submitting to sexual advances. Because a supervisor has the power to make tangible employment decisions, the employer can be held automatically liable for supervisor harassment that results in a negative job action.

Third-party harassment, by contrast, doesn’t involve someone with authority over your job. A client, customer, or vendor cannot fire, demote, or promote you, so quid pro quo claims generally don’t apply. Instead, third-party harassment claims are almost always analyzed under a hostile work environment theory.

Third-Party Harassment as a Hostile Work Environment

A hostile work environment exists when unwelcome sexual conduct — verbal, physical, or visual — is severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of your employment. Unlike quid pro quo claims, a hostile workplace claim can be based on the conduct of a supervisor, a coworker, or someone entirely outside the company.

Repeated comments, sexual jokes, unwanted touching, or a customer who won’t take no for an answer can all form the basis of a hostile work environment claim, even though the harasser doesn’t work for your employer.

Can I Sue If My Employer Doesn’t Prevent Third-Party Harassment?

Yes. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has long recognized that employers can be held liable for harassment by non-employees over whom they have control — including customers, clients, contractors, and vendors on their premises. Liability attaches when the employer knew, or reasonably should have known, about the harassment and failed to take prompt, appropriate corrective action.

In practice, this means your employer must act once it’s on notice of the problem — by reassigning your accounts, barring the offending contractor or client from the workplace, or ending a vendor relationship. An employer that shrugs off a complaint or tells you to “just deal with it” because the harasser is a paying customer may be exposing itself to liability, and giving you grounds for a lawsuit.

Courts don’t always agree on exactly how much an employer had to know before liability attaches, and the standard can vary by jurisdiction. An experienced employment attorney can evaluate your specific facts against the law that applies to your case.

Available Damages in a Third-Party Harassment Case

If you succeed in a third-party sexual harassment claim against your employer, you may be entitled to recover several types of damages, including:

• Back pay and front pay for lost wages if you were demoted, forced out, or had your hours or accounts cut
• Compensatory damages for emotional distress, pain and suffering, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life
• Punitive damages, intended to punish an employer that acted with malice or reckless indifference to your rights, in addition to any compensatory damages or punitive fees a court may impose
• Attorneys’ fees and costs associated with bringing the claim

Under federal law, compensatory and punitive damages combined are subject to caps based on the size of the employer, though back pay, front pay, and attorneys’ fees are generally not subject to those same limits. Depending on where you work, state or local law may provide additional protections or remove certain caps altogether.

Call a New York Employment Law Attorney Now

If a client, customer, contractor, or vendor has harassed you at work — and your employer looked the other way — you don’t have to accept that as the cost of doing your job. Sexual harassment attorneys can help you understand whether your employer’s response fell short of its legal obligations and what damages may be available to you.

The team at Filippatos PLLC represents employees across New York and beyond in sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and retaliation cases. If you are experiencing discrimination at work, please give us a call at 888-9-JOBLAW for a free consultation. We will do our utmost to help secure you the justice you deserve.