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Category Archives: Harassment

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Employers Can be Held Liable for Failing to Protect Employees From Sexual Harassment Based on Sexual Orientation

By Jack Gearan on Posted in Discrimination, Harassment, Litigation, State Law

In a unanimous decision due to be published on May 15, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that employers can be held liable for failing to protect employees from harassment based upon sexual orientation.  In Patino v. Birken Manufacturing Company, a former employee of the jet engine component maker Birken Manufacturing, Co. accused the company of… Continue Reading

Posner – “Nebulous suspicions voiced by a busybody” not protected under Title VII

By Jay Lechner on Posted in Harassment

A part-time female hospital employee complained about her new male boss. Her complaints — mainly generalized criticisms — included disapproval of his “presentation of himself in public,” his “remarks and appropriateness,” his “obvious attraction to/fear of women” and his “leadership in relationship to women.” The hospital, worried about potential hostile work environment implications, investigated. During… Continue Reading

Kozinski – Offensive Workplace Speech Protected By First Amendment

By Jay Lechner on Posted in Constitution, Harassment

The tension between the First Amendment and the right to be free of workplace harassment on the basis of protected status has been addressed by the Ninth Circuit in Rodriguez v. Maricopa Co. Comm. Coll., a case in which employees complained that a professor’s race-based emails created a hostile work environment. Judge Kozinski, with Justice… Continue Reading

No Faragher/Ellerth Defense for New York City Employers

By Jonathan Sulds on Posted in Harassment

New York City employers may not use the Faragher/Ellerth defense to harassment claims lodged under New York City’s Human Rights Law. That’s the verdict of New York’s Court of Appeals. (Zakrzewska v. New School. 2010 NY LEXIS 632 [May 6, 2010]). Instead, New York City employers will be strictly liable for harassment by supervisory or… Continue Reading

U.S. v. Stevens & Hostile Work Environment Law

By Jay Lechner on Posted in Constitution, Harassment

Recently, SCOTUS overturned a federal law banning depictions of animal cruelty because it violated the First Amendment as an impermissibly broad, content-based restriction on speech. (U.S. v. Stevens) What possible connection could this case have to employment law you ask? Title VII — to the extent it imposes liability on employers for creating or permitting… Continue Reading

Employers: Be Careful When Checking Employees’ Social Networking Sites

By Jay Lechner on Posted in Harassment, Privacy

Forty-five percent of employers use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter to research job candidates, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey. Thirty-five percent reported having refused to hire candidates based on content found on those sites. Obviously, employers have valid reasons for viewing these sites; even the Florida Board of Bar Examiners recently suggested that bar applicants’ web postings may reflect an applicant’s character and… Continue Reading