If you are an employee and subjected to sexual harassment by a customer or client of your employer, may you sue your employer?
In a relatively recent case, Swiderski v. Urban Outfitters, 2017 WL 6502221 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), the court explained:
With respect to customer harassment [under the New York City Human Rights Law], it is well established in [the Second C]ircuit that courts impute employer liability for harassment by non-employees according to the same standards for non-supervisory co-workers, with the qualification that they will consider the extent of the employer’s control and any other legal responsibility which the employer may have with respect to the conduct of such non-employees.
Swiderski, 2017 WL 6502221, *7 (citing Summa v. Hofstra Univ., 708 F.3d 115 (2d Cir. 2013); 29 C.F.R. ยง 1604.11(e)).