Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Can non-sexual harassment be used to bolster a sexual harassment claim?

Yes, according to the Second Circuit federal Court of Appeals, covering New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

"The evidence of harassment is quite brief. The supervisor left plaintiff three inappropriate notes in 1998 and 1999. He also summoned her to his hotel room on a business trip and said he thought of her while he was taking a shower. He also insisted that she see him in person at work and not communicate with him by email or phone. The supervisor then denied her certain promotions and denied her opportunities to work from home and take vacation even though male counterparts were able to do these things. The district court dismissed the hostile work environment case, saying there was not enough sexual harassment within the statute of limitations.

The Court of Appeals (Walker, Cabranes and Parker) reinstates the claim. "Moll’s Complaint includes both sexually overt and facially sex-neutral incidents to allege a sex-based hostile work environment. The district court should have considered all incidents in their totality—including sex-neutral incidents—before it dismissed Moll’s hostile work environment claims for failure to allege an actionable incident within the applicable statute of limitations."

Read more here: http://secondcircuitcivilrights.blogspot.com/2014/08/court-of-appeals-reinstates-sexual.html?