Sexual Harassment A Timely Topic For Rental Housing Industry
Sexual harassment is a timely topic for the real estate industry, as a pantheon of celebrities fall from grace for alleged acts of lewd conduct. As of the date of this writing, the journalistic icon Charlie Rose is the latest subject of a fallout following a flood of sexual harassment accusations. Watch ‘CBS This Morning’ co-host Gayle King grapple with the dismissal of her colleague and sound off on the larger cultural change that is taking place.
It seems this issue has rocked every facet of society, including the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill, but let’s talk a moment about how this effects housing. Under California law, tenants can seek damages for sexual harassment under the Fair Employment Act or the Unruh Civil Rights Act. We can cite numerous cases where the courts have frowned upon the sexually based transgressions of landlords with hefty financial repercussions that ensued, a couple of them being Brown v. Smith, 55 Cal. App. 4th 767 and DiCenso v. Cisneros, 96 F.3d 1004.
As we noted in an earlier post that chronicled a racial slur that was texted by an Airbnb host, most forms of discrimination are not so blatant. An off-color joke that seems innocent enough can be offensive, and we oftentimes see leasing consultants get into trouble when meeting with prospective tenants. If, for example, you are showing an apartment with a fireplace to a candidate and quip that you can lower the rent if they invite you over for a date to “break in” the romantic fireplace, you have yourself a problem.
Nowadays, telling your employees to avoid sexual harassment isn’t enough and here in California, the harassment training requirements are arguably the most stringent in the country. AB 1825 requires companies that have 50 or more employees to provide at least two hours of training to supervisors on the prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation sexual harassment prevention training within six months of hiring or getting promoted, and then every two years thereafter. Yet sexual harassment concerns all employers, irrespective of the number of employees.
Employers are generally found responsible and could be found strictly liable for the acts of their supervisors, managers and agents. Of course, the harassers can be held liable for their actions whether they are in a supervisory role or not.
Under the Fair Housing Act, owners or managers may face liability for sexual harassment even if they were not the perpetrators of harassing misconduct, if they knew or should have known about sexual harassment committed by their employees or agents but failed to do anything to stop it. And so it is important to not let a pattern develop, but take proactive action once harassing behavior is reported. When you look into alleged misconduct, remember that employees who make complaints of harassment are protected from any repercussions for coming forward, and any witnesses who participates in an investigation are likewise protected.
It today’s litigious society and with tenant lawsuits proliferating throughout the Bay Area, it’s time to revisit this topic. For more subjects germane to rental property owners and real estate professionals, follow us on Facebook.
