Orange County California Employment Lawyers

Sexual Harassment by Clients or Customers

When a discussion about sexual harassment in the workplace begins, it usually involves one individual harassing her/his co-worker, a superior sexually harassing her/his subordinate, or accusations of sexual harassment for personal gain. One critical element is often missing from this discussion about sexual harassment in the workplace, however. Aside from the aforementioned types of sexual harassment, sexual harassment can also occur when a company's clients or a business's customers sexually harass employees.

For example, take two companies, KPMG, a major accounting/auditing firm, and PepsiCo. PepsiCo may hire KPMG to audit its accounts, so PepsiCo is KPMGs clients. If a specific individual from PepsiCo harasses a KPMG auditor, then that is a serious offense. Or, another example: say a guest at a restaurant harasses a waiter or waitress. That too is a serious offense.

In either one of the above cases, the company or business for whom the sexually harassed employee works for should take action to protect the company. If the company or business chooses not to protect its employee because it is afraid that it will lose business, then it is acting unethically. In such a case, aside from lodging a complaint against the harasser, the employee can also lodge a complaint against the company and possible pursue legal action.

Speak with an Orange County Employment Lawyer

If you have been sexually harassed by any of your company's clients or customers and your company has not confronted the client or the clieznt's company, contact the Orange County employment lawyers of Perry Smith by calling 888-356-2529.