In some cases, the answer is yes
A New York jury awarded $1.2 million to Robert De Niro’s former personal assistant in November, finding one of his companies responsible for subjecting her to a sexually hostile and retaliatory work environment.
Ironically, the jury found De Niro was not personally liable for the alleged harassment and retaliation, even though he allegedly never gave her time off, assigned her tasks beneath her title, underpaid her because she was a woman, and subjected her to other behavior like scratching his back or talking to her on the phone while he urinated.
De Niro’s lawyer proudly claimed after the verdict, “They got it right as to Mr. De Niro, that’s for sure.”
Usually, only the employer is sued as an entity.
However, as the De Niro lawsuit indicates, many plaintiffs are naming the employer as well as the person accused of committing the alleged violation. If successful against the supervisor, for example, the plaintiff can collect the judgment from the supervisor’s personal bank account, retirement fund, etc.
Why are plaintiffs allowed to sue a supervisor or a human resource person?
The basis for individual liability is found in many employment law statutes’ definition of the term “employer.”
For example, the Family Medical Leave Act incorporates the definition of an employer from the Fair Labor Standards Act, and states that “any other person who acted directly or indirectly, in the interest of an employer” may be held...
DAKAR. Ariel Gbaguidi, a journalist from Benin’s La Nation, won the award for fact-check of the year by a working journalist at the African Fact-Checking Awards ceremony held in Senegal on 2 Octob...