Beware of Textual Harassment Liability

Law.com:  “Imagine a supervisor making an inappropriate remark to one of his direct reports in an after-hours conversation.  If he made the comment verbally, and the employee then reported it to the supervisor’s employer, any resulting litigation would have involved the usual ‘he said, she said’ situation, in which lawyers would have challenged the employee’s credibility.   But what if the comment occurred in a text message?  Then, lawyers for the company are at a disadvantage, since a written record of the comment exists.   Harassment by text message — or ‘textual harassment’ — is becoming more prevalent.  Texas and 45 other states have laws expressly criminalizing electronic forms of harassment, including text messages.”