Employer Liability Issues, Non-Employees, Hostile Environment

Appeals Court Limits Title VII Liability for Non-Employee Conduct: Key Takeaways for Employers

Fisher Phillips on 9/8/2025

Can an employer be held liable for workplace harassment committed by a non-employee? The short answer is “sometimes” – but a federal appeals court just significantly narrowed this liability risk for employers in Kentucky,...more

If You See Something, Do You Fix It If It Isn’t Your Employee? 6th Circuit Applies Higher Standard to Non-Employee Harassment Case

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 8/20/2025

An employee tells you a customer just harassed them — what should you do? In Bivens v. Zep, Inc. the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals charts its own course in addressing employer liability for third-party harassment. The Equal...more

Sixth Circuit Limits Employer Liability for Harassment by Nonemployees

Littler on 8/19/2025

On August 8, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled an employer is not liable for harassment of an employee by a third party unless the employer intended for the harassment to occur. This stark departure...more

Are employers potentially liable for customers’ harassing behavior?

McAfee & Taft on 5/11/2023

Typically, harassment claims involve allegations that an individual has been harassed by a co-worker or supervisor. A recent case involving an Illinois casino demonstrates the importance of employers guarding against...more

Employers may be liable for harassment by a non-employee

McAfee & Taft on 3/29/2019

“Claims of sexual harassment typically involve the behavior of fellow employees. But not always,” said a federal appeals court in Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC. The case shows employers must take employee complaints of...more

Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC –What Constitutes “Severe and Pervasive” Conduct With Respect to “Third-Party Harassment”?

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace on 2/26/2019

Employers may be liable to their employees for harassment by non-employees under Title VII. Courts have found liability for this so-called “third-party harassment” in some of the following fact-specific contexts: waitresses...more

New York State's New Sexual Harassment Laws: What Employers Need to Know

FordHarrison on 4/27/2018

In the fiscal year 2019 budget, the New York State Legislature passed several new laws aimed at preventing workplace sexual harassment, including banning mandatory arbitration and requiring anti-harassment policies and...more

Employer Liability Issues › Non-Employees › Hostile Environment