by Teresa Shulda
Do we ever get tired of hearing about pop sensation Justin Bieber’s antics? Let’s hope not, because today’s reality HR lesson comes from none other than the Biebs. 
Flight of fancy
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention or don’t know any tweens, Justin Bieber blasted onto the music scene at the tender age of 14 after he was discovered on YouTube. Since that time, he has charmed the hearts of millions of “Beliebers” and irritated parents everywhere after boys adopted his signature swoopy hairstyle. Unfortunately, during the last year, Bieber has displayed conduct unbecoming of a teen idol.
Recently, reports have circulated that Bieber was up to no good during a flight on a private jet. According to news reports, the pop star, his father, and 10 members of his entourage traveled on a leased Gulfstream from Canada to New Jersey for the Super Bowl. An air charter company staffed the plane with pilots and flight attendants. Upon landing in New Jersey, the plane was greeted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, and drug-sniffing dogs. The crew reported to law enforcement that during the flight, the cabin of the plane was filled with marijuana smoke. And despite several warnings by the captain, the smoke got so bad that the pilots had to don oxygen masks.
As if that wasn’t enough, the captain also had to warn the passengers several times to stop harassing a flight attendant. The attendant reported that the passengers, including Bieber and his father, were extremely verbally abusive, and she refused to work another flight with them. Indeed, she spent the majority of the flight near the pilot in the cockpit in an effort to avoid further abuse.
When customers harass
The incident raises the question, “Is the customer always right (especially if the customer is Justin Bieber)?” In the HR world, the answer is a resounding “no!” It doesn’t matter if the customer is a rich and famous celebrity or your average Joe. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other laws prohibiting harassment on the basis of protected categories extend to harassment by customers, and employers can be held liable if they don’t take action to put a stop to it.
That point was made clear by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case dating back to 1998. In Lockard v. Pizza Hut, Rena Lockard alleged that while waitressing at a Pizza Hut franchise in Oklahoma, she was repeatedly subjected to inappropriate comments and conduct by two male customers. At first, one of the men remarked that her hair smelled good and asked her what kind of perfume she wore. When she said it was none of his business, the man grabbed her by the hair.
Lockard reported the conduct to her supervisor and asked that he assign someone else to wait on the men. The supervisor refused her request and instructed her to serve the customers, saying, “You were hired to be a waitress. You waitress.” When she returned to the table, the men sexually assaulted her.
She quit on the spot and sued her employer for the customers’ sexual harassment. The court held the employer liable, stating that an employer violates Title VII if it knows or should have known of harassing conduct by a customer and fails to take appropriate corrective action. Lockard told her supervisor about the offensive conduct, and rather than take action to stop it, he sent her right back into the lion’s den.
HR reality
The Lockard case is a good reminder for HR professionals that employers must take measures to protect their employees from harassment no matter who’s doing the harassing. 
Check your antiharassment policy to ensure it includes “customer harassment” among the types of conduct that are prohibited, and make sure your employees know that they need to report customer harassment when it first occurs. If you can take immediate action to separate the employee from the customer, do so. Even if the customer is a teen heartthrob.
Teresa Shulda is an employment lawyer with Foulston Siefkin, practicing in the firm’s Wichita, Kansas, office. She may be contacted at tshulda@foulston.com.