In a verdict demonstrating employers’ potential exposure to sexual harassment claims based on the acts of clients or other nonemployees, a New Jersey jury has awarded $2.4 million to a former PNC Bank employee who said the company failed to protect her from unwelcome touching by a customer.

The Essex County Superior Court jury on Monday made the award to Damara Scott, an employee of the PNC Bank branch in Glen Ridge who claimed she was sexually assaulted in the vestibule outside the bank entrance in October 2013 by customer Patrick Pignatello, who has since died.