Salazar

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

This appeal addresses whether the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) creates employer liability for sexual harassment of an employee committed by a non-employee client or customer. Our analysis of Government Code section 12940, subdivisions (j)(1) and (k) [1] leads to the conclusion that these statutes do not create employer liability when a non-employee client or customer sexually harasses an employee. The Legislature considered proposed 1984 legislation which would have amended the statute to make an employer liable for harassment by clients or customers, but rejected that amendment and did not enact it into law. Although an uncodified 1984 preamble stated an existing policy of maintaining worksites free from prohibited harassment and discrimination by clientele, the Legislature did not amend section 12940 to translate that existing policy into statutory rights, remedies and liabilities. The Legislature, not this court, should draft and enact statutes that define the scope of employer liability. We affirm a judgment for defendants entered after the trial court granted their motion for nonsuit, but reverse an…