Abstract
Imagine the following scenario: Acme is a large employer that has vigorously sought to eliminate all forms of discrimination, including sexual harassment, from its workplace. To do so, Acme mandates that all new employees must attend sexual harassment training during employee orientation prior to beginning work for Acme. All supervisors receive additional training and are required to attend at least one sexual harassment prevention seminar each year. Acme has also promulgated an official sexual harassment policy, which is first distributed to all new employees in the employee handbook, and subsequently reprinted and distributed to all employees at the beginning of every year. The policy provides clear examples of prohibited sexual harassment and encourages any employee who believes she has been sexually harassed to report the behavior immediately to her supervisor. If an employee is uncomfortable or unable to report the misbehavior to a supervisor, the policy provides a mechanism by which an employee may bypass her supervisor and report directly to higher management. If an employee is still reluctant to notify her employer through higher management, Acme has provided a "1-800" number employees may use to report any harassment anonymously, twenty-four hours a day.
Recommended Citation
Hayman, Cheylynn
(2002)
"Walking a Fine Line: Avoiding Vicarious Liability for Supervisor Harassment Under the Ellerth/Faragher Affirmative Defense in the Tenth Circuit,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2002:
No.
3, Article 9.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2002/iss3/9