Companies are held liable when employees harass each other - even when it happens in a hotel room a thousand miles away. But strong policy and careful planning can prevent these legal woes.

An employee at an Illinois state agency is suing because of alleged sexual harassment that occurred between him and a supervisor during a business trip.

Here’s what happened: Employees of the agency had to travel to Springfield for business. Apparently, there weren’t enough available hotel rooms in the area, so the guy stayed in the same room as his female boss.

Allegedly, the night they got there, the woman slipped into a pair of silk pajamas and asked the man to have sex. He said no, and the trip continued. About a month after they got back, the guy was fired - according to the agency, for misuse of a state-owned car.

Big trouble

Not surprisingly, he sued the state for sexual harassment. The trial’s still going on, so we don’t know the extent of the damage, but things don’t look good - and they could have been easily avoided. First of all, it’s unlikely there wasn’t a different hotel where he could’ve stayed, or a male employee he could’ve shared a room with. Also, according to the man, the supervisor made sexual comments to him before the trip, such as repeatedly referring to him as a “boy toy.”

In addition to careful pairing when rooms must be shared, companies should mention on-the-road conduct in their harassment policies if they send people traveling together often. And if something does happen - which it often can when employees are out of supervision and in the presence of beds and mini-bars - swiftly dealing with the incident will likely prevent a legal nightmare.