Ask a Lawyer - Archive

Can an employer be sued for allowing a employee to yell, use foul language, and the persons who handles the HR issues was present went the hostile employee to talk down to me and never did anything about it and he continues to talk down.

In general, there is no law prohibiting yelling, talking down, or the use of foul language in the workplace. However, if you can show that the reason that this employee yells or uses foul language has to do with the race, gender, or other protected characteristic of the person the employee yells at, then the employer may be liable for allowing the harassment to go on. For instance, if the person yelling used terms that were derogatory toward a particular race or gender (such as "bitch" for women, or the n-word for African-Americans), then the employer could be held liable.