January 17, 2019: By Joseph G. Harraka, Jr., Esq. and Anthony J. Vizzoni, Esq.
Addressing an issue that remains unresolved by the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, U.S. District Court Judge Jan DuBois of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently ruled that a transportation company can be held liable for failing to stop an employee from being sexually harassed by a non-employee in Carl Hewitt v. BS Transportation of Illinois, LLC, et al. Plaintiff, Carl Hewitt (“Hewitt”) worked as a freight driver for Defendant, BS Transportation of Illinois, LLC (“BS Transportation”) and his job responsibilities included loading oil at the refinery located at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania owned by Defendant Sunoco, Inc. (“Sunoco”).
Beginning in early 2014, Sunoco employee Defendant, Anthony Perillo “ (“Perillo”) began to make sexual advances toward Hewitt when he travelled to the Sunoco plant to fill his truck up with fuel. Despite his complaints to both Perillo’s supervisor at Sunoco and his complaints to his supervisor and the owner at BS Transportation, the sexual harassment he experienced from Perillo did not cease and continued over an extended period of time.