Coworker harassment may not carry the same automatic liability as supervisor harassment, but employers can still be held responsible when they knew or should have known about peer harassment and failed to act. Understanding when employers are liable for coworker conduct helps you build an effective harassment claim.
The Employer Liability Standard
Employers are liable for coworker harassment when they were negligent—meaning they knew or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt and appropriate corrective action. Unlike supervisor harassment, there's no automatic liability; you must show the employer knew and failed to respond.
"Knew or Should Have Known"
Employer knowledge can be established through:
Actual notice: You reported harassment to management, HR, or through company complaint procedures.
Constructive notice: The harassment was so open, obvious, or widespread that the employer should have known—even without a formal complaint.
Document your complaints. Written reports to supervisors, HR emails, and formal complaints create clear evidence of employer knowledge.
Failure to Respond Appropriately
Once informed, employers must respond promptly and effectively. Appropriate responses include: investigating the complaint promptly and thoroughly, taking remedial action designed to stop the harassment, protecting the complainant from ongoing contact with the harasser, and following up to ensure harassment has stopped.
Inadequate responses include: failing to investigate, conducting superficial investigations, taking no action after substantiating complaints, blaming the victim, and allowing continued contact between harasser and victim.
What Makes Harassment Actionable
Coworker conduct must be severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment. Courts consider: frequency of the conduct (isolated incidents rarely qualify), severity of each incident, whether conduct was physically threatening or humiliating, whether conduct unreasonably interfered with work, and the cumulative effect of multiple incidents.
A single extremely severe incident (physical assault, explicit threats) may be enough. Otherwise, a pattern of conduct is typically required.
Types of Coworker Harassment
Peer harassment takes many forms: sexual comments, jokes, or innuendo; display of sexually explicit materials; unwanted touching or physical contact; spreading sexual rumors; repeated requests for dates after rejection; cyberbullying and online harassment; exclusion based on sex or sexual orientation.
Reporting Coworker Harassment
Report harassment through available channels: your direct supervisor (unless they're the harasser), human resources, company hotlines or complaint procedures, and higher management if lower levels fail to respond.
Document your reports—date, time, who you reported to, and what was said. Keep copies of written complaints. Follow up if you don't receive a response.
Why Reporting Matters
Reporting creates employer knowledge—essential for liability. If you never complained and harassment wasn't obvious, the employer may not be liable even if harassment occurred. Reporting also triggers the employer's obligation to investigate and respond.
Employer Defenses
Employers typically defend by arguing: they had no knowledge of the harassment; they responded promptly and appropriately once informed; the conduct wasn't severe or pervasive enough; you didn't use available complaint procedures; and you welcomed the conduct.
Strong documentation of complaints and employer inaction defeats many of these defenses.
When Employers Are Not Liable
Employers may avoid liability if: they genuinely didn't know about isolated incidents; they investigated promptly and took effective action; the conduct, while inappropriate, wasn't severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile environment.
Retaliation Claims
If your employer retaliates against you for reporting coworker harassment, you have a separate retaliation claim. Retaliation includes termination, demotion, disciplinary action, schedule changes, and any adverse action resulting from your complaint.
Getting Legal Help
Coworker harassment cases require proving employer negligence—what they knew and how they responded. An employment attorney can help document your case, navigate EEOC requirements, and hold your employer accountable for failing to address peer harassment.