Who is a Harassing ‘Supervisor’

Harassment is an offensive conduct meant to disturb or torment a person, and it normally occurs in a workplace setting. There can be different reasons as to why an employee is harassed. But whatever the reason is, harassment is still forbidden and has to be investigated and punishable by law.

The harasser can be anyone in the workplace; even the customers of a company can be considered a harasser. However, due to their status as a superior or higher authority compared to regular employees, supervisor harassment is also possible.

A case of supervisor harassment is subject to vicarious liability. Therefore, it is important to determine whether the harasser is considered a “supervisor” to the harassed employee. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has categorized and defined supervisor. Such harassment claims may require help from a supervisor harassment lawyer Los Angeles.

Chain of Command

In chain of command, the harassing supervisor has authority over the harassed based on his job function rather than job title. A person is a supervisor under this category if:

1. He has the power to undertake or recommend “tangible employment decisions” which can affect the employee.

A supervisor under this category can make “tangible employment decisions” that can have significant changes regarding other employee’s employment status. Such decisions include hiring, firing, promoting, demoting, and reassigning. Even if he is not the one who makes the decision, a supervisor’s recommendation is given substantial weight in coming up with the final verdict.

2. He has authority to direct the employee’s daily work activities.

Even if one does not have the authority to make or recommend tangible employment decisions, a person is still considered a supervisor if he is the one who assigns tasks to employees. Harassment in this scenario may include ridiculous increase in workload or assigning of undesirable tasks, even if the harasser is only assigning tasks temporarily.

Someone who simply relays instructions by the officials to the employees regarding work assignments, or only directs limited number of tasks is not a supervisor.

Outside Chain of Command

A supervisor outside chain of command does not have actual authority over the employee. This could mean that there is no clear chain of command in the company, therefore creating confusion among employees as to who is superior to whom. The employee may have reason to believe that the harassing superior really had authority over him or that the harasser has the power to influence employment decisions.

An employee who believes he has been harassed by his supervisor or anyone else in his work can ask advice and representation from a Los Angeles employment lawyer.



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