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Appeals Harassment Hostile Environment

Holland & Hart - Employers' Lawyers

Online Conduct, Offline Impact: Unpacking the Legal Implications of Social Media Harassment in the Workplace

JT Washington by JT Washington Today, technology and social media are integral parts of our daily lives. Social media has transformed how we communicate and express ourselves. However, this transformation has brought new...more

Payne & Fears

July 2024 Case Summaries

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Summary: Courts must consider allegations of a racially hostile workplace “from the perspective of a reasonable person belonging to the racial or ethnic group of the plaintiff.” Under this framework, “a single racial epithet...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Get with the Pronoun: Eleventh Circuit Rules Pervasive Misgendering Is Harassment

If an employer or coworker persistently uses a transgender worker’s wrong name or identified pronoun, can that constitute a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII? In Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections,...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Claims of Hostile Work Environment Happened Over Too Long a Period, Court Rules

Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims from a university professor that she had been subjected to a series of retaliatory acts in the two- and one-half year period following her filing an Equal...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Recognizes 'Equal Opportunity Harasser' Defense

We often hear claims from employees who threaten to sue their employer for creating a “hostile work environment.” When we dig into the complaints, often the employee is alleging that their manager is mean or unfair to them,...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Fourth Circuit Holds ‘Series of Hateful Workplace Encounters’ Based on Race Can Create Hostile Working Environment Under Title VII

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has expanded its view of what a hostile work environment looks like and lowered the bar in terms of what a plaintiff must show to sufficiently allege a race-based hostile work...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Says Racial Slur From Owner's Six-Year-Old Son is Evidence of Offensive Working Environment

​​​​​​​Over the past decade, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the bar for demonstrating racial harassment in cases where a racial...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Racial Epithets Spoken in Spanish Created Hostile Work Environment

Most employers are aware that a supervisor’s or co-worker’s use of the N-word or similar racial epithets in the workplace can serve as the basis for a claim of racial harassment. What happens, however, when the slurs are...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Federal Appeals Court Says Employer Must Have Reasonable Opportunity to Investigate Harassment Complaint

Under Title VII, an employer may be liable for sexual harassment by one co-worker of another if it knew or should have known of the conduct and took no action. According to a recent decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Eight Circuit Maintains High Bar for Hostile Work Environment Claims

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Seyfarth Synopsis: The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a manager’s behavior toward an employee was “reprehensible and improper,” but did not rise to the level of a hostile work environment under Title VII, and...more

Cozen O'Connor

HR Investigations Pay Dividends: A Healthier Workplace and Protection in Court

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Many HR professionals spend a significant amount of time investigating employee complaints and, depending on the outcome of these investigations, implementing corrective measures to halt and prevent bad behavior in the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Seventh Circuit Says One Use of "N-Word" Insufficient for Racial Harassment Claim

In recent years, a number of federal appellant courts, including the Fourth Circuit, have issued opinions finding that a single use of a racial slur can be enough to constitute a hostile and offensive working environment...more

Genova Burns LLC

One and Done: NJ Appellate Court Rules that a Continuing Violation Under the NJLAD can Apply to a Hostile Work Environment Claim...

Genova Burns LLC on

The New Jersey Appellate Division in Adel Mansour v. Brooklake Club Corporation, Inc., d/b/a Brooklake Country Club, A-2472-17T1 (App. Div. July 10, 2019) recently considered a hostile work environment claim by an Egyptian...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Facebook Comments About Employee Did Not Create Hostile Working Environment

One of the major trends in recent years in employment discrimination law has been the lowering of the standard required for a plaintiff to demonstrate a hostile and offensive working environment based on race or sex. Federal...more

Butler Snow LLP

Take This Job And Shove It – Alabama Supreme Court Elaborates On “Voluntarily” Leaving Employment

Butler Snow LLP on

If you quit your job because of a hostile work environment, is it still “voluntary”? According to the Alabama Supreme Court’s July 12, 2019 opinion in Arnold v. Hyundai Manuf. Ala., LLC, it is. In Arnold, Hyundai hired Arnold...more

McAfee & Taft

Employers may be liable for harassment by a non-employee

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“Claims of sexual harassment typically involve the behavior of fellow employees. But not always,” said a federal appeals court in Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC. The case shows employers must take employee complaints of...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Seventh Circuit Says ‘Hellish' Work Environment Is Not Necessary to Prove Title VII Harassment

Over the past decade, federal courts have gradually reduced the evidentiary burden necessary for a plaintiff to reach a jury trial on claims involving sexual or racial harassment. The relevant legal standard calls for the...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC –What Constitutes “Severe and Pervasive” Conduct With Respect to “Third-Party Harassment”?

Employers may be liable to their employees for harassment by non-employees under Title VII. Courts have found liability for this so-called “third-party harassment” in some of the following fact-specific contexts: waitresses...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Once Is Enough: Eleventh Circuit Allows Racial Harassment Claim Against Health Care Provider to Proceed—and Takeaways For...

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Seyfarth Synopsis: In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the use of the N-Word in the workplace one time is sufficient to trigger a hostile work environment....more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Supervisor Overhearing Racist Remarks Makes Employer Potentially Liable for Harassment

Over the past decade federal courts have demonstrated a decreasing willingness to tolerate the use of racist language in the workplace. In repeated circumstances, courts have found even a single use of a racial slur...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Same-Sex Harassment of Male Employee in Mixed-Gender Workplace Violated Title VII

In its 1998 Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment can violate Title VII’s gender discrimination prohibitions. However, the court noted that in order to demonstrate violation of the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Even Rhetorical Use of the "N-Word" Sufficient to Allow Racial Harassment Claim to Go to Jury

Over the past several years, we have reported an increasing number of federal appeals court decisions that have characterized even single instances of certain racial slurs as sufficient to constitute hostile environment...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Rejects Sexual Harassment Claim by Employee Who Quit Days Into Her Investigation

Employers are not strictly liable for hostile environment sexual harassment by a victim’s co-workers. The employer may be held responsible under Title VII if it knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Fifth Circuit Warps Time In Decision On The Continuing Violation Doctrine

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Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held for the first time that the continuing violation doctrine applies even when a plaintiff was subject to harassment that was severe enough to put the...more

McAfee & Taft

Lessons in dealing with an “equal opportunity” harasser

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A new opinion released by the Tenth Circuit provides practical tips to employers dealing with multiple employee complaints alleging generalized harassment and/or discrimination throughout the workplace....more

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