I run a hotel. One of my employees has been accused by a guest of sexual harassment. We require all our workers to participate in sexual harassment training every year and make several efforts to prevent it from happening. We ran an extensive background check on the employee and had no knowledge about the incident prior to hearing from the guest. However, we were sued along with the employee. Can we be found liable? Can we fire the employee based on the allegation?

It is common for plaintiffs’ lawyers to sue employers based on the alleged misconduct of their employees. It is helpful to the employer’s position in court if it has done a thorough job of screening, training and supervising its staff. As to firing the worker, proof that the employee did sexually harass the guest is certainly good grounds for termination. Even absent such proof, discharge may be appropriate - most employees are “at-will,” meaning they can be fired for any reason or no reason at all.

Source: James W. Bucking is an attorney at the Boston law firm of Foley Hoag. He can be contacted at jbucking@foleyhoag.com.