Legal Question in Discrimination Law in California
older co-worker....
I work in a big doctor's office. We have several gals that are really hard workers. However, we are currently training an older lady that seems to have minimal computer skills. Recently she made an inappropriate comment to a patient that was checking in to see one of our doctors. One of my co-workers overheard what she had said to the patient was offended and reported it the supervisors. The patient who was also offended reported it to the office as well. My co-worker who reported the incident was told by our HR person that she could be sued for sexual harrasment by the party that made the comment. This doesn't make any sense. The only thing I can see is that the older lady that made the comment could sue for age discrimination. This would not make sense as we have a few older ladies in our office. What is your opinion?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: older co-worker....
Since you didn't state what the comment was, its difficult to answer your question fully. However, if the comment was discriminatory in nature and the coworker reported the discriminatory conduct to a supervisor, a claim for "sexual harassment" would not be appropriate. Nor would an age discrimination claim if the complaint was about that person's discriminatory conduct.
It is generally not harassment or discrimination to report a coworker's misconduct.
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