Hostile Work Environment Claim Advances

Workplace harassment that prompts employees to document their concerns about the alleged behavior in writing can show that the behavior in question constituted a hostile work environment, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

The plaintiff, who is black, worked as a coordinator at the Franklin County Municipal Court in Ohio. She sued five other courthouse employees, including four state court judges and the court's administrator. The plaintiff alleged that the five defendants retaliated against her after she complained about gender and race discrimination by demoting her, and they subjected her to a hostile work environment. In support of her hostile work environment claim, the plaintiff contended that each of the defendants made or condoned sexist and racist comments.

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The district court dismissed the retaliation claim and hostile work environment claim against all defendants. The 6th Circuit affirmed the dismissal as to each defendant on the plaintiff's retaliation claim. The appeals court found that the plaintiff's allegations were not specific enough to show that four of the defendants took an adverse action against her. The 6th Circuit also ruled that while the allegations showed that the remaining defendant may have taken an adverse action against the plaintiff, the allegations failed to show that this defendant was aware of her discrimination complaints against him when he took such adverse action.

Moreover, the 6th Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the plaintiff's hostile work environment claim as to four of the five defendants. The circuit court reasoned that the allegations were not definite enough to show that the four defendants were aware of the alleged harassment but failed to take remedial action.

However, the 6th Circuit reversed the dismissal of the hostile work environment claim as to the remaining defendant. The circuit court explained that her allegations in the amended complaint against this defendant were sufficient to plausibly allege that this defendant made sexist and racist comments directed at her—she reported to her supervisors that this defendant's harassment interfered with her ability to work—and the harassment was "sufficiently severe and/or pervasive" as evidenced by other courthouse employees who deemed it necessary to address their concerns in writing about this defendant's behavior toward her.

Boxill v. O'Grady, 6th Cir., No. 18-3385 (Aug. 16, 2019).

Professional Pointer: This case shows that liability for a hostile work environment claim can be premised upon written internal communications that discuss concerns with the alleged behavior, and in turn demonstrate that the alleged behavior was sufficiently severe and pervasive.

Howie Waldman is an attorney with Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A., the Worklaw® Network member firm in Winter Park, Fla.