Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in Georgia
Bath room peeping tom
Hello this is my question earlier today while at work I had to use the rest room(number2). So the way the restroom stalls are set up at work are such that the seat covers are shared between the two stalls containing toilets, and it just happened that the seat protecter dispencer was out. Heres the problem when the dispencer is out of paper that allows eye level access into the the ajoining stall, so today a guy(customer) went into the stall next to me to handle his buisness and I noticed that he was looking through the 4inch slit trying to get a look between my legs!. I was terrified and was shocked, and caught off guard and was frozen still and couldn't move or speak, and I was praying for someone to come into the bathroom so I could run and jump up and run out. Well after a maintnence lady came in i got and and ran out and thanked her for coming in, and i reported it to mey manager, Hr, and security not 5minutes after it happened and becuase they said he was a customer there was nothing they could do becuase it would have been his word against mine. However had that had a been another associate they would have been fired. Isn't my employer suppose to provide a safe working enviroment?regardless if he was an associate orcustomer?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Bath room peeping tom
Generally, an employer (or any other person) cannot be everywhere, every minute, or provide security for every possible act by a third party. They cannot place a security guard in every room, all day. So... no there is no requirement of providing a "safe working environment" to the degree they can prevent every possible act by anyone who comes in. As you say, it was not your employer or anyone associated with them who committed the act, or "harassed" you. If a criminal act was done by a customer or anyone else, the police should have been called as private businesses do not generally enforce criminal laws or detain people. Presumably, you could have called them on your own even if the employer did not want to.
Re: Bath room peeping tom
I should add that the police could still be called to investigate.