A number of U.S. Supreme Court decisions have highlighted the importance of effective human resource policies prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers must be concerned about and take appropriate action against sexual harassment. In the cases of Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries v. Ellerth, both decided in 1998, the supreme Court held that employers are vicariously liable for sexual harassment by a supervisor who has authority over the harassed employee. Also in 1998, the supreme Court ruled in the Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services case that same-sex harassment was illegal under the Civil Rights Act. The court also established the following two-part affirmative defense that employers may assert if the harassment resulted in on tangible loss: (a) the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior and (b) the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise. This defense is not available to employers if the employee failed to complain due to a reasonable fear of retaliation.