Client Alert: Labor and Employment - Michigan Supreme Court Limits Employer Liability for Employee’s Intentional, Unforeseeable Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment

In a significant change in Michigan sexual harassment law, on July 29, 2011 the Michigan Supreme Court issued a 4-3 decision in Hamed v. Wayne County et al., which overruled its 1996 decision of Champion v. Nation Wide Security Inc.  Champion had imposed strict liability on employers under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) for the intentional, criminal sexual acts of its employees.  In Hamed, the Court expressly overruled Champion and changed law which had been in place for the last 15 years.  Hamed holds that an employer's liability for criminal acts of an employee under the ELCRA is now limited to those acts the employer could have reasonably foreseen.