Employers may lean toward taking a hands-off approach when customers or other third parties exhibit discriminatory behavior in a workplace, but the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission takes a dim view of laissez-faire attitudes and will sue.
Case in point: A recent lawsuit the EEOC filed against a Vermont nursing home that it said allowed mostly White patients to subject Black nurses to racial harassment. The agency said the long-term care facility in Burlington, Vt., had allowed the patients to use racial slurs, among other harassing behavior.