The term “hostile work environment” has found its way into the vernacular in the past decade or so. These three words can make plaintiff’s lawyers rich, and leave employers on the hook for huge verdicts. Employers know they have a duty to prevent a hostile work environment. But what is an employer’s duty in regards to a hostile work environment caused by third parties? A California Court recently confirmed that an employer has a duty to take corrective measures to prevent a hostile work environment caused by third parties – even when this type of harassment or hostile work environment may be “inherently part of the job.”
In the case of Turman v. Tuning Point of Central California, the plaintiff Turman was a resident monitor at a halfway house for defendant Turning Point. Residents of the halfway house were almost exclusively male prisoners who were being transitioned back into society prior to their full release on parole. Turman alleged that while she was at work, male residents propositioned her for sex, made sexual gestures to her, and called her lewd names. When Turman complained to her supervisor, her supervisor simply suggested she issue fewer disciplinary citations for the residents’ rule violation, which he believed was the cause of their harassing conduct. The trial court found that, while Turman was subjected to severe harassment because of her gender and that such harassment created a hostile work environment, Turning Point did not “fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.”
However, the Appellate Court reversed the judgment, finding that since Turning Point’s response to the reported abuse – Turman’s supervisor telling her to issue fewer disciplinary citations to residents so they would be nicer to her – did not amount to corrective action to alleviate the abuse. The Court acknowledged that even though male residents living under restricted/penal conditions are likely to harass a female supervisor, and that enduring inappropriate behavior by prisoners may be “inherently” part of the job, that does not absolve an employer from its legal responsibility to take immediate and appropriate action to correct the situation.
This case puts California employers on notice of their duty to take immediate action to correct a hostile work environment, even when the problem is caused by third parties.
