The Supreme Court held that where the commission of supervisor harassment does not culminate in a “tangible employment action” (as in both Faragher and Ellerth), the employer may raise as an affirmative defense to liability or damages that it (a) “exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior, and (b) that the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise.” Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 807 (1998); Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 745 (1998). | ||||||||||||||||||
What is an employer’s reasonable care to prevent and correct any sexually harassing behavior?
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The employers in the following cases successfully established that they exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly the alleged harassment:
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In some cases, courts have refused to find that an employer exercised reasonable care to prevent or correct promptly alleged harassment where:
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Cases holding employer failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent or correct promptly alleged harassment:
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What is reasonable plaintiff’s conduct? Generally, a timely complaint of actionable harassment by an employee will defeat the affirmative defense.
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What Happens When Employee and Employer Act Reasonably?
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Who is An Immediate Supervisor?
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