With sexual harassment so much in the news, a recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reminds us of an employer’s obligation when it becomes aware of harassing behavior from a co-worker. In Jones v. Pennsylvania State Police, 16-4205, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163858 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 3), the court found that the response of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) to its knowledge of harassing behavior may have been insufficient, sending the case to trial.
Dating State Troopers
Rachel Jones began working as a patrol trooper for the PSP in March 2013. She began dating fellow trooper Craig Acord in June 2013. They broke up approximately one year later. After the break-up, however, Acord continued to pursue Jones by sending text messages asking for a resumption of their relationship. When simply asking was insufficient, Acord began to send her gifts and flowers beginning in July 2014 through February 2015. Jones, however, did not report these gifts to her supervisors. She believed that Corporals Hardeep Rai and Kevin Mills were aware of the situation, however, because Rai supervised both Jones and Acord, and Mills had asked Jones whether she wanted to change the time of her shooting lessons in order to avoid Acord.
