The Customer Is Not Always Right

Businesses succeed by satisfying their customers. In a phrase coined by either Marshall Field or Harry Gordon Selfridge: "The customer is always right." But, where a customer's wishes collide with an employee's legal rights, the employer may have to ignore the customer's wishes.

A 2010 case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit illustrates the dangers of acceding to customer preferences. In Chaney v. Plainfield Healthcare Center, 612 F.3d 908 (7th Cir. 2010), a white patient said that he only wanted to receive care from white health care providers. The facility complied by issuing written instructions that no Black providers were to enter the patient's room. That was consistent with its policy of honoring patients' racial preferences. The Court of Appeals found that the policy contributed to an unlawful hostile environment. The EEOC Compliance Manual similarly states that "customer preference is not a defense to race discrimination."

The Cheney court distinguished cases that had recognized gender as a bona fide occupational qualification in the health care and prison fields, where the customers had privacy concerns. See Jennings v. New York State Office of Mental Health, 786 F. Supp. 376 (S.D.N.Y. 1992). A recent case from the Southern District of New York acknowledged the need to accommodate privacy concerns, but ruled that there were means for accommodating that interest other than a flat ban on appointing female correctional officers to a particular position. See White v. Department of Correctional Services, Case No. 08-0993 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 30, 2011).

A 2002 California Court of Appeal case recognized another limited exception to the usual rule. In West v. Bechtel Corp., 96 Cal.App.4th 966, 117 Cal.Rptr.2d 647 (2002), the court reversed a $100,000 judgment based on age discrimination allegations. The Saudi Arabian government entity that Bechtel had a contract with vetoed the hiring of a 62-year old employee for a key position because of his age. Because there was no evidence that the decision-maker at Bechtel had a discriminatory motive, the employee had no case. Bechtel had made a neutral business decision based on the direction of the Saudi government entity.

Although there are limited circumstances where an employer' accession to customer preference may be a defense to a discrimination claim, those are exceptions to the firmly established rule to the contrary.

In addition, failure to take corrective action when informed of a customer's harassing behavior may expose the employer to hostile environment liability. In Salazar v. Diversified Paratransit, Inc.,117 Cal.App.4th 318, 11 Cal.Rptr.3d 630 (2004), the court ruled that a female driver had a viable hostile environment claim if her employer had failed to take action after she reported that a client had harassed her.