ABSTRACT
Sexual harassment law, like many other laws, is riddled with ambiguities. Once sexual harassment in the USA was recognized as a legal wrong, the core legal definition of sexual harassment was established quickly, and has changed little since it was first drafted. The issue of employer liability is an important one in sexual harassment cases. Because employers may be held liable for the sexual harassment of their employees, sexual harassment is an important organizational issue. Courts treat employer liability differently, depending on the type of sexual harassment, the status of the harasser and whether the victim experiences ‘tangible’ damages. Large plaintiff awards tend not to appear in sexual harassment claims, but appear as entitlement claims in unemployment or wrongful discharge disputes under the Austrian labor laws. There have been just a handful of sexual harassment cases actually heard in the Austrian courts.
