News Flash: Employers Can Be Liable For Sexual Misconduct On Business Trips

Most employers are on the lookout for sexual harassment that occurs in the workplace. But it may come as a surprise that you can be sued for sexual misconduct that occurs on an incentive trip offered to top performers. In a recent case that highlights this problem, a Los Angeles employer has shelled out $130,000 to settle allegations that a district manager raped an employee during a weekend trip offered toworkers as a performance reward. Shortly before the incident, the district manager and several workers had been playing drinking games, and the manager had tried to kiss the employee. Following a company investigation of the incident, the district manager resigned. The employer had contended that it wasn’t liable because the incident didn’t occur on company premises, and the trip wasn’t work-related. In another recent case, Susan Zavatto, a marketing executive for Clifford Electronics, was awarded $682,000 by a Los Angeles jury in her suit alleging the company’s then-president had made sexual overtures to her during a business trip to Las Vegas. She claimed that her complaints weren’t investigated and that the firm retaliated against her by criticizing her performance, moving her from a skyline-view office to an area behind a storage garage, and eventually firing her.