In Bivens v. Zep, Inc., No. 24-2109 (6th Cir. Aug. 8, 2025), the Sixth Circuit split with the EEOC and most U.S. Courts of Appeals as to when an employer may be liable under Title VII for harassment by a non-agent (e.g.,...more
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
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
When is an employer liable for the harassment of an employee by a non-employee? The Sixth Circuit answered this question on Friday in Bivens v. Zep, Inc., holding that Title VII imposes liability for customer (or other...more
In an explicit departure from EEOC guidance and other federal court caselaw, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently held that an employer can only be liable for a client/customer’s harassment of its...more
Please follow along as we discuss the top 10 things every employer should know about OSHA over the next few weeks. 1. Employers and employees have the right to have a company employee or non-employee representative...more
On April 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process Rule, which is set to take effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register...more
The highly anticipated “walkaround” rule on clarifying rights to employee representation in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections has now been issued. It was published on Friday, March 29, and will...more
On April 1, 2024, the Federal Register published OSHA’s final rule revising its regulations regarding whom employees can authorize to act as their representative(s) to accompany compliance officers during on-site OSHA...more
The New Jersey Appellate Division issued a decision which sheds light on the issue of whether an employee’s sexual harassment of a third-party (non-employee) could subject the employer to liability under the New Jersey Law...more
In two opinions released on August 31, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overruled two 2019 decisions to expand the scope of workers’ concerted activity protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Those...more
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
Please join us for BakerHostetler’s The ‘New’ Normal: The State of Labor Relations and Employment Law Master Class. Our 9th Annual Master Class will be virtual again this year, as it was last year, due to the continuation of...more
In the face of the pandemic over the last year, Congress issued several rounds of unemployment assistance through the CARES Act not only to employees but also to workers classified as independent contractors or self-employed....more
Law Partnerships – Age Discrimination Against Law Firm Partners – Owners or Employees – Civil Rights Laws - Von Kaenel v. Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, 943 F. 3d 1139 (2019) - Risk Management Issue: Are law firm partners...more
New York has become the most progressive State in the nation when it comes to protecting workers against harassment, discrimination and retaliation on the job. In the last two years, New York has made it much easier for any...more
In NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox, Inc., decided in 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court provided two exceptions to the general rule that an employer cannot be compelled to open its property to union organizers. The first exception applies...more
On June 14, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) ruled in a 3-1 decision that employers may prohibit nonemployee union representatives from conducting organizing activities on employer property that is open to...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued a decision on June 14, reversing nearly 40 years of precedent and granting employers expanded rights to prohibit union activity by non-employees from occurring at the...more
“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
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
Continuing its aggressive measures to combat workplace sexual harassment, on August 23, the New York State Department of Labor issued for public comment a draft sexual harassment training program, a checklist of minimum...more
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
Following on the heels of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements, the New York State Legislature and the New York City Council have passed significant legislation aimed at providing greater protection against workplace sexual...more
On April 12, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a 2019 New York budget implementing the provisions of S-7848A (the “Budget”). Beyond the obligations created by S-7848A, which we summarized in a previous post, the...more