Client Alert - Employment Law Update
Illinois Supreme Court Holds Employers Strictly Liabile for Sexual Harassment by Supervisory Employees
In a recent decision, the Illinois Supreme Court declared that employers are subject to strict liability for harassing conduct by management and supervisory employees, even if they had no direct authority over the complainant. The decision is a significant departure from federal law, and marks a substantial expansion of potential liability for employers.
The case of Sangamon County Sheriff's Department v. Illinois Human Rights Commission, Nos. 105517 and 105518 cons. (April 16, 2009) began when Donna Feleccia filed a complaint against her employer for sexual harassment with the Illinois Human Rights Commission. As a records clerk, she alleged harassment by a patrol division sergeant during a two-month period in November and December 1998. The sergeant was a supervisor in a different division, and worked a different shift. Ms. Feleccia did not report the harassment to management of the Sheriff's department until after she was dissatisfied with disciplinary action taken against him for a practical joke in February of 1999. Specifically, it reprimanded and suspended the sergeant for sending a falsified letter from the Illinois Department of Public Health to Ms. Feleccia, informing her that she had been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease.
The Illinois Human Rights Act and an Employer's Strict Liability
The Illinois Human Rights Act (the Act) creates the legal framework for remedying employment discrimination under Illinois law. It outlaws sexual harassment, and creates two categories of harassment that have different standards of liability for employers - harassment by managerial/supervisory employees and harassment by co-employees. Employers are strictly liable for harassment by managerial/supervisory employees because of the authority such individuals have over an employee in the workplace. However, employers are only liable for harassment by co-employees if they fail to take reasonable corrective measures upon learning of the harassment. Under federal law, only those employees with direct authority over a complainant, or who can affect the terms and conditions of his or her employment, are considered supervisory/managerial employees. That is no longer true under Illinois state law.
The Sangamon County Decision
The Illinois Human Rights Commission found the Sheriff's department to be strictly liable for the sergeant's harassment because he was, broadly speaking, a supervisory employee. The Illinois Appellate Court reversed the decision, finding that the two individuals were merely "co-employees" because the sergeant had no supervisory authority over her. As such, the Sheriff's department was not liable because it had taken reasonable corrective action upon learning of the harassment.
The Illinois Supreme Court disagreed, finding the language of the Act to be unambiguous, and interpretting the terms "managerial" and "supervisory" broadly to mean any manager or any supervisor. Thus, it concluded that the Sheriff's department was strictly liable since the sergeant was a supervisory employee.
The Significance and Effect of the Decision
This decision does away with an important distinction that has long existed under federal law. In Illinois, an employer will now be strictly liable for harassment committed by its managerial employees, regardless of its knowledge of the harassment, or the action it takes upon learning of it. This was described by Justice Karmeier, who dissented in the opinion, as "not only going beyond the principles governing sexual harassment claims under federal law, it imposes a standard of liability which appears to be without precedent in any jurisdiction of the United States." As the actions of managerial and supervisory employees have more potential consequences than ever before, proper harassment training for such personnel is imperative.
If you would like more information about how this decision will affect your business, or have questions about your employment policies and practices in general, please contact Mr. Gonzalez at 312-558-9779 or at egonzalez@elvisgonzalezltd.com.
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