The Customer Is Not Always Right

The two men arrested in a Starbucks store for the apparent offense of being black while waiting for a friend illustrates a common experience of discrimination against minority customers.

What about cases where customers harass a company’s employees? These situations are also common—and employers don't take action because employees do not speak up.
A growing number of cases involve white customers who refuse service by black or immigrant employees. This is not uncommon in hospitals. 

In 2013, a white man with a swastika tattoo insisted that black nurses not be allowed to touch his newborn. That led several black nurses to sue the Michigan hospital, claiming it bowed to his illegal demands, and a rapid settlement in one of their lawsuits.
Perhaps the most common situation, however, is when male customers harass female employees. 
Kelly Andersson was serving six men drinks in a bar in Oregon when one of the men ran his hand up her leg and under her skirt. She recounts the episode: “First time I just gave him the death glare. Second time I told him (a bit loudly) that if he put his hand under my skirt again I’d pour a drink over his head. Next trip back, OF COURSE, he does it. I plucked a strawberry daiquiri from my tray and dumped it gracefully on top of his head and smirked as it ran down onto his nice cream-colored turtleneck sweater.’’ Apparently, she did not report the problem to her employer.

Caitlyn Collins, also a waitress, recalled: “I’ve had countless men use predatory language, grab me inappropriately and suggest that I sleep with them. If I play along and smile, they always tip well, and they always come back. As emotionally draining as it is, the trade-off is worth it because I don’t have to deal with these men outside of work, and their money allows me to pay for my education and save for my future.” Apparently, she did not report the problem to her employer. (New York Times, Harassment and Tipping in Restaurants: Your Stories (March 18, 2018)).

But employers are liable for customer harassment of workers if the employee notifies supervisors and no remedial action occurs.

In 2016, a federal jury awarded $250,000 in compensatory damages to a former employee of Costco Wholesale, Inc. who was harassed and stalked by a customer. The company failed to take measures to protect a female worker in Glenview, Illinois after she complained that a male customer harassed and stalked her.

In a different case (Crist v. Focus Homes), patients in a residential care facility groped a female nurse. After she complained to her employer, nothing changed: the employer took no action, and the groping continued. The federal appeals court, ruling for the nurse, said that an employee does not assume the risk of harassment.

In Lockard v. Pizza Hut, the restaurant took no action to protect the plaintiff waitress, despite her reports of increasingly abusive behavior by some of the customers. The Court wrote: ‘‘An employer who condones or tolerates the creation of such an environment should be held liable’’ even if a non-employee creates that environment.

The Starbucks case, and customer harassment cases, point to a need for companies to eliminate discrimination by employees against customers, and customers against employees— but it is easier said than done.