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DEBBIE WILSON | SPRINGMAN, BRADEN, WILSON & PONTIUS, PC
Sexual Harassment in Housing:
How to avoid Fair Housing claims against
maintenance staff
W
ith so many stories
concerning sexual
harassment in the
media today, it is
important that housing professionals
and maintenance staff have a heightened
awareness of the current laws and the
risks of certain conduct, ranging from
inappropriate comments to outright
sexual assault.
programs, protections from eviction and
access to emergency transfers in publically
assisted housing. The letter made reference
to the October 2017 announcement from
the DOJ of an initiative to combat sexual
harassment in housing, and cited the fact
that the Civil Rights Divisions settled
four sexual harassment cases in 2017,
recovering over $1 million for the victims
liable for any resulting harm, just as if the
property owner or manager personally
engaged in the sexual harassment or
preference themselves. Furthermore, if
the employee or agent is acting in the
scope of his or her employment when the
harassment occurred, the property owner
or manager could be vicariously liable even
if he/she did not know of the bad acts.
“If a property owner or manager knows that
sexual harassment or preference is occurring
and fails to take action to stop it, is directly
liable for any resulting harm.”
The Fair Housing Act at
42 UC 3601-3619 (“FHA”)
protects individuals against
discrimination because of
sex/gender. This extends
to sexual harassment. The
Courts recognize two types
of sexual harassment (1) quid
pro quo sexual harassment
(such as when a housing
provider or its staff or
agent conditions access or retention of
housing on a victim’s submission to sexual
conduct; and (2) hostile environment
sexual harassment (such as when a housing
provider or its staff or agent (or another
tenant in some cases) engages in sexual
behavior of such severity or pervasiveness
that it alters the terms or conditions of
the tenancy.
On January 8, 2018, the Deputy
Director for the Office on Violence
Against Women (“OVW”) of the
Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued
a public letter, emphasizing OVW’s
continued commitment to addressing
the housing needs of victims of sexual
harassment, from transitional housing
28 | TRENDS MARCH 2018
for those 4 cases alone. The government is
making discrimination based on sex
a priority.
A property owner or manager must
refrain from engaging in sexual harassment
and also refrain from s