When Does a Work Environment Become Hostile by Law

One of the aspects that people may not like about their job is their boss. They may feel that the boss is overly demanding or does not recognize the work the person is doing for the company. However, others may feel harassed based on the conduct of their superiors or co-workers. In certain situations, this latter type of behavior could be illegal.

The harassment could create a hostile work environment, and employees should not have to endure that.

There are two different situations when a work environment is deemed to be hostile. One is if the employee is being harassed based on their race, religion, gender, age, disability or other similar reasons and the harassment becomes a condition to keep the job. The other is if the harassment creates an environment that a reasonable person would consider it intimidating, hostile or abusive.

Harassment could include insults, threats, intimidation, offensive behavior, interfering with one’s work and many other types of behavior. In order for there to be a hostile work environment though, it has to be more than simple annoyances and generally has to be more than just an isolated incident.

However, if a hostile work environment has been created, the victim of the harassment may be entitled to compensation for the damages they endured as a result of the harassment.

There are many annoying things that people in California endure while they are at work. While sometimes people just need to put up with the annoyances, other times these situations become more than just annoying and are in fact harassment. If that is the situation the employee may be entitled to compensation for having to endure it. The compensation can pay for a number of things including potentially emotional distress. Experienced attorneys understand when workplace behavior crosses the line and may be a useful resource.