Employment Counseling

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Hostile Work Environment?

LibertyBell Law Group often hears from A hostile work environment (HWE) in California is a workplace that threatens employees and makes them feel uncomfortable and/or scared due to unwelcomed conduct. This type of workplace harassment is prohibited under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Hostile work harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, older age (beginning at age 40), disability, or genetic information (including family medical history).

Harassment becomes
Unlawful where:

1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or

2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.

Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws.

Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality. To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to reasonable people.

Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance. Harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including, but not limited to, the following:

The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, an agent of the employer, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
The victim does not have to be the person harassed, but can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
Unlawful harassment may occur without economic injury to, or discharge of, the victim.

Employer Liability
For Harrasment

The employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a negative employment action such as termination, failure to promote or hire, and loss of wages. If the supervisor’s harassment results in a hostile work environment, the employer can avoid liability only if it can prove that: 1) it reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior; and 2) the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

The employer will be liable for harassment by non-supervisory employees or non-employees over whom it has control (e.g., independent contractors or customers on the premises), if it knew, or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt and appropriate corrective action.

When investigating allegations of harassment, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) looks at the entire record: including the nature of the conduct, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination of whether harassment is severe or pervasive enough to be illegal is made on a case-by-case basis.

For more information or to schedule an appointment with an experienced lawyer regarding issues related to employment counseling matters, please contact us

Call 855-713-1864

Legal Citations:

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Harassment. EEOC – eeoc.gov.

Executive Defenders is a Civil Division of LibertyBell Law Group

Gina Tennen

Is A Nationally Recognized Criminal Law Attorney

Gina Tennen At a Glance

Received the National Top 100 Trial Lawyers Award
Featured in Time Magazine’s “Leaders of Criminal Defense” in the 100 Most Influential People edition.
Experienced in both prosecution and defense.
Has handled many high-profile cases
Expert legal strategist.
Relentless fighter for her clients with results to prove it.

Gina is a Founding partner and one of the nation's leading criminal defense attorneys, She is a leading advocate of personal freedom and individual rights.

Her meticulous trial preparation and her exceptional ability to integrate an aggressive, thorough defense, has earned her the admiration of clients and the respect of prosecutors, judges and other criminal lawyers across the country.

She is an astute strategist and powerful advocate who works tirelessly to protect the rights of her clients. She has earned a long-standing reputation as a relentless fighter who never surrenders in any case and has represented many high-profile criminal cases.