Can an individual harasser (such as a supervisor or coworker), not just the company, be held personally liable for harassment under FEHA?
Explanation
Government Code §12940(j)(3) makes an employee who personally engages in harassment liable in his own right, whatever the employer's liability - so a foreman can be named as a defendant and has no indemnity claim for his own harassment. (a) and (b) state the rule for DISCRIMINATION, which is where the confusion comes from: Reno v. Baird held that individual supervisors cannot be sued personally for discriminatory personnel decisions, only the employer can, and the Legislature deliberately drew harassment the other way. (d) limits exposure to owners; the section reaches any employee. This personal exposure is the strongest argument for putting supervisors through §12950.1 training.
Law Reference: Government Code §12940(j)(3); Reno v. Baird (1998) 18 Cal.4th 640This topic, taught in full in the CSLB Law & Business guide. CSLB Law & Business — Complete Study Guide (2026) — PDF + EPUB, $24.99 · 14-day refund →
Practice all 1632 questions free — no signup required.
Own the complete CSLB Law & Business guide — PDF + EPUB, $24.99 →
Related questions on this topic
- Under California's Fair Chance Act ('ban the box'), an employer with five or more employees generally may NOT:
- The 'interactive process' required by FEHA refers to:
- Under current California law (Gov. Code §12923), a single incident of harassing conduct:
- An employee with a disability requests an accommodation that would fundamentally alter the nature of the business or impose significant difficulty and expense. The employer:
- Under Gov. Code §12950.1, an employer with five or more employees must provide sexual-harassment prevention training to supervisory employees consisting of at least:
- For nonsupervisory employees, the sexual-harassment prevention training required of employers with five or more employees is at least:
Last reviewed: · editorial process