Employers can be held financially liable for sexual harassment that occurs in the workplace, at company-sponsored events or on company time. While most companies have a stated policy in their employee handbook prohibiting sexual harassment, this alone is not enough to protect a company from liability in sexual harassment cases. While the court has yet to view employee handbooks as contracts, it tends to hold companies responsible for the policies stated in them. As such, if a company has a policy and procedure in place for dealing with sexual harassment, the court is more likely to hold them accountable if it can be demonstrated that their own stated policies were not followed.