Quid Pro Quo Harassment In The Workplace

Quid pro quo harassment in the workplace creates exposure for the organisation as well as the individual, and that surprises employers who assume it is a personal act.

An employer can be liable for harassment committed by an employee in connection with their employment. Whether that liability holds generally depends on what the employer did beforehand to prevent it.

That is why the positive duty matters here. The question is not only how you handled the complaint. It is what measures existed before anyone complained, and whether they were reasonable and proportionate to your risk.

The controls that matter most for this conduct are structural. Decisions about promotion, renewal and allocation made by more than one person, and a reporting route that does not run through the line manager.

The Australian Human Rights Commission sets out the duty. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s course for managers and workplace compliance system.