INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS Another ground on which an employer can be held liable is intentional infliction of emotional distress. In general, if an employer (or anyone else, for that matter) acts in an extreme or outrageous way and either intentionally or recklessly causes someone else to suffer severe emotional distress, the victim of such conduct can recover damages in court. Claims for intentional infliction of emotional dis- tress are sometimes coupled with charges of harassment based on sex, race, or other protected categories.
CASE STUDY: EMPLOYER POTENTIALLY LIABLE FOR INTENTIONAL INFLICTION In a strange case involving X University in Washington, D.C., an employee of the university claimed that her supervisor placed two electrically operated noisemakers outside the supervisor’s door aimed at the employee’s workplace. According to the employee, the devices emitted an unbearably loud, static-sounding, piercing, humming, and droning noise every hour of the workday for some nine months, causing the employee extreme emotional distress. Despite her complaints, the
university did nothing. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the employee stated a good claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress and that the case should not have been dismissed before trial.
