Yes, a judge can take legal action to prevent someone who is harassing you from returning to their job, particularly if their job allows them to continue the harassment. This is typically done through peace orders, restraining orders, or workplace restraining orders:

For example:

  1. Filing a Petition for Peace Order(restraining order) : A judge may issue a restraining order that prohibits the harasser from coming near you, contacting you, or returning to a location where you might encounter them, such as a shared workplace. This could effectively bar the person from returning to their job.
  2. Workplace Restraining Orders: In Maryland, employers can request a workplace restraining order on behalf of their employees to prevent harassment. If granted, this order could prevent the harasser from returning to the workplace.
  3. Conditions of Employment: If the harassment is severe where for example the harassing party is charged with a crime for assault or more extreme forms of harassment,  a judge might set conditions that make it difficult or impossible for the person to continue in their job, such as requiring them to stay away from you, which might conflict with their work duties.

The decision whether to remove an alleged harasser from their job is a challenging decision for any judge. On the one hand, they want to protect a victim from future harassment the employee might face if the court allows the offender to return to this mutually shared job site. On the other, judges are reluctant to boot someone from the source of livelihood based on allegations of abuse.

Naturally, and at the same time, a victim of alleged harassment can and often looks to their employer to “reassign an alleged harasser” to other duties that do not put them in close physical proximity to the victim. But what if that is not possible due to size or nature of the workplace environment?

Solutions to these case often are best devised by a skilled attorney who understands how to best apply the laws of Maryland to assist anyone facing harassment or anyone facing the prospect losing their job based on an allegation of harassment.