Psychological Harassment By A Client

Employers who have employees working off site, providing services to clients on a regular basis, should take note of the case of Hermann Cebert v. Groupe d'imprimerie Saint-Joseph Inc.¹

Saint-Joseph provided printing, photocopying and other services to a third party client. Certain employees of Saint-Joseph, including the plaintiff, worked at the premises of the client to provide the contracted services, along with the client's own employees.

The plaintiff, who had a supervisory role over Saint-Joseph's other employees working at the client location was physically attacked in the mailroom of the client by a colleague. Although, prior to the attack, there had been some discussions of the assignment of the attacker, there was no apparent reason for the attack and the accompanying physical violence. The incident was witnessed by several employees. The president of the client intervened and "fired" the plaintiff, telling him to leave the premises immediately.