Employers Have an Obligation to Stop Harassment

Employers must take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment. If harassment has occurred, the duty to maintain a harassment-free work environment requires the employer to take remedial action not only to change the harasser's behavior, but to deter potential harassers from unlawful conduct.

Reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring include affirmatively raising the issue of harassment; expressing strong disapproval of harassment; developing appropriate sanctions against harassment; informing employees of their rights and instructing them to report harassment.

Appropriate corrective action is some form of discipline, however mild, that contributes or eliminates the problem at hand. If the employer fails to take even the mildest form of discriminatory action, the remedy is insufficient. Action is corrective only if it contributes to the elimination of the problem at hand. Disciplinary measures are more likely to decrease the likelihood of repeated harassment than a mere request to stop the behavior, and so discipline is what a corrective action is.

Failing to investigate, or repudiate the employee's conduct by redressing the harm done and punishing or discharging can cause an employer to be liable for punitive damages if their non-managerial agent committed an act of discrimination. Remediation of prohibited harassment includes an investigation.