Severe Conduct

"Severe conduct" can also fall under the definition of hostile environment sexual harassment. In these cases, just one incident (such as groping) is enough to constitute swift and extreme action, such as firing the harasser and/or initiating a court case.

"Jane" was a 16-year-old girl who worked for a Vons grocery store in La Mesa, California, in 2015. Her 23-year-old male boss befriended her. He would offer her marijuana, and they would socialize outside of work hours. They would smoke marijuana in his car during lunch breaks, and he would show up at her house to take her to work.

Once, he lured Jane to a hotel where he said he needed to pick something up before they spent a day together at the beach. He gave her what he said was marijuana. After smoking, Jane immediately felt disoriented. She went in and out of consciousness before waking up naked and pushing him off her.

This incident occurred outside of work, but Jane brought the incident to the attention of her employer and her parents. She pressed charges. The supervisor was arrested and found guilty of lewd conduct.

The supervisor was moved to another location, but his employment was not terminated. Investigations confirmed this was a common policy. Jane filed a lawsuit against the Vons parent company, Safeway, because Vons did not have a policy for sexual harassment training for minors.

To learn more about Sexual Harassment Prevention Training For Supervisors visit our Cal/OSHA Sexual Harassment Prevention Training For Supervisors Online Training web page.