Third-party harassment happens when someone outside your company—like a customer, client, vendor, or delivery person—sexually harasses you at work. Under federal law, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and New York State and New York City laws, your employer has a legal obligation to protect you from this harassment, even though the harasser isn’t on the payroll. If your company knows or should know about third-party harassment and doesn’t take immediate action to stop it, it can be held liable.
Key Takeaways
- Third-party harassment includes unwanted sexual conduct from customers, clients, vendors, contractors, or anyone your employer does business with.
- Employers must take immediate corrective action when they know or should know about third-party harassment.
- You have the right to a workplace free from sexual harassment, regardless of who’s doing the harassing.
- Documentation is critical—keep records of every incident, complaint, and your employer’s response (or lack thereof).
- New York’s strong anti-harassment laws provide additional protections beyond federal standards.
Disclaimer: This article provides general information for informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for legal advice. It is essential to consult with an experienced employment lawyer at our law firm to discuss the specific facts of your case and understand your legal rights and options. This information does not create an attorney-client relationship.
What Legally Qualifies as Third-Party Harassment?
Third-party harassment occurs when someone who doesn’t work for your company subjects you to unwelcome sexual conduct during your work duties. The term “third party” means anyone outside your organization’s direct employment relationship—customers buying products, clients receiving services, delivery drivers, contractors working on-site, vendors pitching products, or even members of the public you interact with while working.
The harassment follows the same legal standards as coworker harassment. It’s unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that creates a hostile work environment or affects your job. The key difference is that your employer doesn’t have direct supervisory control over the harasser, which affects how they must respond and what remedies are available.
New York law applies broadly to protect employees from harassment by anyone they encounter while doing their job. This includes situations where you’re working at a client’s location, attending off-site business meetings, or serving customers at your employer’s premises.
How Does Third-Party Harassment Differ from Coworker Harassment?
The main distinction lies in your employer’s level of control. With coworker harassment, your company can directly discipline, reassign, or terminate the harasser. With third-party harassment, your employer can’t fire a customer—but they still must protect you.
Your employer’s response options for third-party harassment include refusing future business with the harasser, assigning you to different accounts or work areas, increasing security presence, or implementing policies that empower you to decline service to harassing individuals. The law recognizes these practical limitations while still requiring employers to take reasonable corrective action.
Courts evaluate third-party harassment claims using a modified standard that considers what protective measures were realistically available to your employer. This doesn’t let companies off the hook—it just recognizes that firing isn’t always an option when the harasser doesn’t work there.
Who Can Be a Third-Party Harasser?
Any person your employer does business with or who enters your workplace can be a third-party harasser. The most common scenarios involve customers in retail or service positions, clients at professional firms, patients in healthcare settings, delivery personnel, vendors and salespeople, contractors working on-site, and building occupants if you work in property management or security.
The harasser’s relationship to your employer matters for determining what corrective action is reasonable, but it doesn’t change whether the conduct itself constitutes harassment. A client who generates significant revenue receives the same legal treatment as a one-time customer—your employer cannot prioritize profits over your right to a harassment-free workplace.
Is a Repeat Customer Considered a Third Party?
Yes. Regularity of business doesn’t change someone’s third-party status. In fact, repeat customers who harass employees present particularly serious situations because your employer has ongoing notice and more opportunities to protect you. If a customer harasses you every week and your employer continues allowing that contact, that’s strong evidence of failing to take reasonable corrective action.
What Is Your Employer Required to Do About Third-Party Harassment?
New York law requires employers to protect employees from sexual harassment regardless of the harasser’s employment status. Once your company knows or reasonably should know about third-party harassment, it must take immediate and appropriate corrective action to stop it and prevent it from recurring.
“Immediate” means your employer can’t wait to see if the harassment continues or hopes it resolves itself. The corrective action must be “appropriate” given the circumstances—meaning it should be reasonably calculated to stop the harassment. What’s reasonable depends on factors like the severity of the harassment, the business relationship with the third party, and available protective measures.
What Type of Support Must the Company Provide in Cases of Third-Party Harassment?
Your employer’s response should include several components. First, they must conduct a prompt investigation to understand what happened and assess the severity. Second, they need to take action to separate you from the harasser—whether that’s banning the person from the premises, reassigning you to different shifts or locations, or declining further business with them.
Third, your employer should provide support services like access to employee assistance programs, security escorts if needed, or modified work arrangements to help you feel safe. Fourth, they must implement or reinforce policies that prevent future harassment, such as clear procedures for refusing service to abusive customers or training staff on how to respond to third-party harassment.
Fifth, your company cannot retaliate against you for reporting third-party harassment. If your employer reduces your hours, gives you less desirable assignments, or creates a hostile environment because you complained about a customer’s harassment, that’s illegal retaliation.
How Do You Prove Third-Party Harassment Occurred?
Documentation is everything in third-party harassment cases. Start by reporting the harassment to your supervisor or HR immediately after each incident. Follow up in writing via email, detailing what happened, when, where, who was involved, and any witnesses. This creates a contemporaneous record that’s difficult for your employer to dispute later.
Keep copies of all your reports and your employer’s responses. If your employer doesn’t respond in writing, send a follow-up email summarizing any verbal conversations: “Per our discussion on [date], I reported that [customer name] [describe conduct], and you said [their response].” This technique converts verbal promises into documented records.
What Evidence Do You Need for Harassment Claims?
Strong evidence includes dated written reports of each incident, witness statements from coworkers who saw or heard the harassment, security footage if available, electronic communications showing the harassment (texts, emails, voicemails from the third party), medical or therapy records if you sought treatment for distress caused by the harassment, and documentation of your employer’s response or failure to respond.
You don’t need video evidence or multiple witnesses to have a valid claim. Your own credible testimony about what happened, corroborated by contemporaneous written reports, can establish that harassment occurred. However, the more evidence you have, the stronger your position.
Pattern evidence is particularly powerful in third-party harassment cases. If you can show the same customer harassed multiple employees, or that similar incidents happened repeatedly and your employer did nothing, that strengthens claims that your company knew about the problem and failed to address it.
What Qualifies as a Harassment Complaint?
Any communication to your employer—verbal or written—that reasonably conveys unwelcome sexual conduct is occurring should be treated as a harassment complaint. You don’t need to use legal terminology or specifically say “I’m filing a harassment complaint.” Telling your supervisor, “This customer keeps making inappropriate sexual comments to me,” is a complaint that triggers your employer’s duty to investigate and respond.
Under New York law, even informal complaints to coworkers can put your employer on notice if those complaints reasonably should have reached management. This means if you tell multiple coworkers about customer harassment and it’s a topic of workplace conversation, your employer may be charged with knowledge even if you didn’t formally report to HR.
What Are the Two Types of Harassment Complaints?
Harassment complaints generally fall into quid pro quo harassment and hostile environment harassment. Quid pro quo involves explicit or implicit conditioning of employment benefits on sexual favors—”If you want this account, you need to go out with me.” This is less common in third-party situations since customers typically can’t directly affect your employment terms, though it can happen if a client has influence over your employer.
Hostile environment harassment is more common in third-party situations. This involves unwelcome sexual conduct that’s severe or pervasive enough to create an abusive working environment. A single extremely severe incident (like sexual assault) or repeated moderate incidents (like ongoing sexual comments or unwanted touching) can constitute hostile environment harassment.
What Can You Do If a Customer Is Harassing You?
Take immediate action to protect yourself and create a record. First, tell the customer directly that their behavior is unwelcome and must stop, if it’s safe to do so. Use clear language: “That comment is inappropriate. Please don’t speak to me that way.” This establishes that the conduct is unwelcome, which is a legal requirement for harassment claims.
Second, remove yourself from the situation if you feel unsafe. You have the right to walk away, ask a coworker to take over, or refuse to serve someone who’s harassing you. Don’t worry about being rude or losing a sale—your safety matters more than customer satisfaction.
Third, immediately report the incident to your supervisor or manager. Describe exactly what happened, including any witnesses. If the harassment continues or your employer doesn’t respond appropriately, escalate to HR or higher management.
What Is the 10 to 10 Rule in Customer Service?
The “10 to 10 rule” generally refers to customer service training about greeting customers within 10 seconds and staying within 10 feet. However, no customer service standard overrides your legal right to a harassment-free workplace. Your employer cannot require you to tolerate sexual harassment in the name of customer service, good hospitality, or business relationships.
If your company has a “customer is always right” culture that pressures you to accept inappropriate behavior, that culture violates New York employment law. You have the right to refuse service to customers who sexually harass you, and your employer must support that right.
Is Third-Party Harassment Illegal?
Yes. Sexual harassment in the workplace is prohibited regardless of whether the harasser is an employee, and New York State and New York City laws provide even stronger protections. Employers can be held liable for third-party harassment when they knew or should have known about it and failed to take prompt, appropriate corrective action.
The illegality stems from your employer’s obligation to maintain a workplace free from sexual harassment. This duty extends to harassment by anyone you encounter while performing your job duties, not just fellow employees. Courts have consistently held that “workplace” includes any location where you work, any situation where you’re performing job duties, and any person you interact with as part of your employment.
What Are the 9 Protected Categories of Harassment?
Under federal law, harassment based on these protected categories is illegal: sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), race, color, national origin, religion, age (40 and older), disability, and genetic information. New York law adds additional protected categories, including citizenship status, marital status, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or conviction record, and predisposing genetic characteristics.
Third-party harassment can be based on any of these protected characteristics, though sexual harassment is most common. If a customer harasses you based on your race, religion, disability, or any other protected characteristic, your employer has the same duty to protect you as they would for sexual harassment.
What Proof Is Needed for Harassment?
To prove third-party harassment, you need evidence establishing three elements: unwelcome sexual conduct occurred, the conduct was severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment, your employer knew or should have known about the harassment, and your employer failed to take prompt, appropriate corrective action.
“Unwelcome” means you didn’t solicit or invite the conduct and found it undesirable or offensive. You establish this through your reports, your reactions, and any statements you made to the harasser or coworkers about the conduct being inappropriate.
What Are Three Actions That Are Considered Harassment?
Sexual harassment includes a wide range of unwelcome conduct. Physical harassment includes unwanted touching, groping, kissing, cornering someone, blocking their path, or any physical contact of a sexual nature. Verbal harassment includes sexual comments about someone’s body or appearance, sexual jokes or innuendo, requests for dates after being told no, questions about someone’s sex life, or sexual propositions.
Non-verbal harassment includes leering or staring at someone’s body, making sexual gestures, displaying sexual images where others can see them, or sending unsolicited sexual texts or images. All of these behaviors, when directed at you by a customer or other third party during work, constitute harassment that your employer must address.
What Are the 5 D's to Stop Harassment?
The “5 D’s” is a bystander intervention framework that applies to third-party harassment situations. “Direct” means directly intervening by telling the harasser to stop. “Distract” involves interrupting the harassment by creating a distraction—asking the harasser a question, drawing their attention elsewhere, or creating a reason for the target to leave the situation.
“Delegate” means getting help from someone with more authority—calling a manager, security, or, in severe cases, the police. “Delay” involves checking in with the harassment target after the incident to offer support and help them report. “Document” means recording what happened to create evidence and support potential claims.
While these strategies were developed for preventing sexual assault, they apply to workplace harassment situations. Coworkers, supervisors, and even customers who witness harassment can use these techniques to intervene and protect targets.
What's the Difference Between Third-Party Claims and Third-Party Harassment?
This terminology can be confusing. “Third-party harassment” specifically refers to harassment by someone outside your employer’s workforce—customers, clients, vendors, etc. It’s about who the harasser is, not who files the claim.
“Third-party claims” could refer to several legal concepts. It might mean claims filed by someone who witnessed harassment (a bystander claim), derivative claims filed by family members affected by harassment, or claims against entities other than your direct employer (like the harasser’s employer or a property owner). The term isn’t used consistently in employment law.
Is a Customer Considered a Third Party?
Yes, in employment law, any person who doesn’t work for your employer is considered a third party. This includes customers, clients, patients, students, vendors, contractors, delivery personnel, maintenance workers, building occupants if you work in property management, event attendees if you work in hospitality, and members of the public you interact with while working.
The key distinction is the employment relationship. If someone receives a paycheck from your employer or is a direct agent of your employer (like a board member or owner), they’re not a third party for harassment purposes—they’re treated as the employer. Everyone else is a third party, regardless of how much business they do with your company.
What Is the Third-Party Harassment Policy?
There’s no single “third-party harassment policy” that all employers must follow. However, best practices and legal requirements mean effective workplace harassment policies should address third-party harassment explicitly. A good policy includes clear definitions of what third-party harassment is and who qualifies as a third party, procedures for employees to report third-party harassment safely and confidentially, and a commitment to prompt investigation and appropriate corrective action.
The policy should also outline potential responses to third-party harassment, such as refusing future business, banning individuals from premises, or reassigning employees. It needs to prohibit retaliation against employees who report third-party harassment and provide training to all employees on recognizing and responding to third-party harassment.
Under New York law, employers with 15 or more employees must provide annual sexual harassment prevention training, and this training must address harassment by non-employees. Smaller employers should still have clear policies even if training isn’t legally mandated.
When Should You Contact an Employment Attorney?
Contact an attorney immediately if your employer fails to investigate after you report third-party harassment, if your employer takes no action to protect you after a report, if you face retaliation for reporting harassment, if the harassment continues after you’ve reported it multiple times, if you’re forced to work with a harasser despite complaints, or if the harassment is severe (sexual assault, explicit threats, or persistent graphic sexual conduct).
An experienced employment attorney can evaluate your situation, advise you on documentation strategies, send a formal demand letter to your employer requiring action, file administrative charges with the EEOC or New York State Division of Human Rights, negotiate settlement terms if you choose to leave, or file a lawsuit if necessary to protect your rights and obtain compensation.
Time limits apply to harassment claims. Federal claims must be filed with the EEOC within 300 days of the harassment, and New York State and City have their own deadlines. Don’t wait until the last minute—early attorney involvement typically leads to better outcomes.
Protecting Your Rights in Third-Party Harassment Situations
Third-party harassment is not something you must tolerate as “part of the job.” Whether you work in retail, healthcare, hospitality, or any industry where you interact with non-employees, you have the legal right to a workplace free from sexual harassment. Your employer’s obligation to protect you doesn’t end at the employee roster—it extends to everyone you encounter while doing your job.
If you’re experiencing harassment from customers, clients, or other third parties, document everything, report immediately, and don’t accept excuses about preserving business relationships or customer satisfaction. Your safety and dignity matter more than any client relationship or sale.
Remember that effective responses to third-party harassment require immediate action from your employer. If your company claims they can’t do anything about a harassing customer, they’re likely wrong. Refusal to act isn’t just bad management—it’s illegal. You deserve an employer who prioritizes your well-being over profits.
If your employer has failed to protect you from third-party harassment, contact Nisar Law Group to discuss your legal options. Our employment attorneys have extensive experience handling harassment claims and holding employers accountable for maintaining safe workplaces. We work exclusively with employees, never employers, and understand the challenges you face in these situations.
Frequently Asked Questions About Third-Party Harassment
Yes. Sexual harassment doesn’t have to come from a coworker or supervisor to be illegal. Third-party harassment occurs when someone outside your employer’s workforce—like customers, clients, vendors, or contractors—subjects you to unwelcome sexual conduct while you’re doing your job. Federal and New York law require your employer to protect you from this harassment just as they would from employee harassment. The source of the harassment doesn’t change your right to a safe workplace.
Take immediate action. First, tell the customer their behavior is unwelcome if it’s safe to do so. Second, remove yourself from the situation—walk away, ask a coworker to take over, or refuse to serve them. Third, report the incident to your supervisor or HR immediately in writing. Document everything: what happened, when, where, who witnessed it, and how your employer responded. If your employer doesn’t take action to protect you, escalate to higher management or contact an employment attorney. You never have to tolerate harassment in the name of customer service.
Your employer must take several protective measures. They need to conduct a prompt investigation to understand what happened, take immediate action to separate you from the harasser (ban them from premises, reassign you to different shifts/locations, decline future business), provide support services like employee assistance programs or security escorts if needed, implement or strengthen policies preventing future harassment, train staff on responding to third-party harassment appropriately, and protect you from workplace retaliation for reporting. The specific measures should be reasonably calculated to stop the harassment and prevent recurrence.
Yes. Federal law under Title VII prohibits workplace sexual harassment regardless of whether the harasser is an employee. New York State and New York City laws provide even stronger protections. Employers can be held liable for third-party harassment when they knew or should have known about it and failed to take prompt, appropriate corrective action. The law recognizes that maintaining a harassment-free workplace includes protecting employees from non-employee harassment during work duties. Courts consistently hold employers accountable when they ignore, minimize, or inadequately respond to third-party harassment reports.
Yes. In employment law, any person who doesn’t work for your employer is considered a third party. Customers are classic third-party harassers because they’re external to your employer’s workforce but interact with you during your job duties. Your employer’s obligation to protect you from harassment extends to all third parties, including customers, regardless of how much business they do with your company or how long they’ve been a customer. Regularity of business doesn’t change someone’s third-party status or reduce your employer’s duty to protect you.
Third parties include all non-employees you encounter while doing your job: customers purchasing goods or services, clients receiving professional services, patients in healthcare settings, delivery drivers and couriers, vendors and sales representatives, contractors and temporary workers on-site, building tenants and visitors, event attendees and guests, and members of the public you serve in your job. The unifying factor is that they’re outside your employer’s direct control, but your employer still must protect you from their harassment.
There’s no single mandated “third-party harassment policy” that all employers must adopt. However, effective workplace harassment policies should explicitly address harassment by non-employees. A strong policy defines what third-party harassment is, explains how to report it safely and confidentially, commits to prompt investigation and appropriate corrective action, outlines potential employer responses (refusing business, banning individuals, reassigning employees), prohibits retaliation against reporting employees, and ensures all staff receive training on recognizing and responding to third-party harassment. New York employers with 15+ employees must provide annual sexual harassment training that addresses non-employee harassment.
“Third-party harassment” specifically refers to harassment by someone outside your employer’s workforce—customers, clients, vendors, etc. It’s about who the harasser is. “Third-party claims” is broader legal terminology that could mean claims filed by someone who witnessed harassment, derivative claims filed by family members affected by harassment, or claims against entities other than your direct employer. The term isn’t used consistently in employment law, so context matters. When discussing workplace harassment by non-employees, “third-party harassment” is the correct term.
