What do sophomoric, offensive radio DJs have to do with your company? They can get you sued.
A woman filed a sexual harassment claim against her employer. At the center of the case was a radio program played on a communal stereo in the office. According to the woman, every morning her co-workers (mostly male) listened to a radio show that contained extremely graphic and offensive sexual content (especially to women), including discussions about sex acts, masturbation and pornography.
Allegedly, this went on for the entire three years she worked for the company. During that time, she said, she complained to the office manager, who repeatedly told her it was a public radio and she could change the station if she wanted to. But when she did, she said, someone immediately changed it back.
Harassing, or just offensive?
At first, the company won the case. The court found that the conduct wasn’t directed at the woman and that male and female employees were equally exposed to the offensive content. Therefore, there was no sexual harassment.
But an appeals court reversed, on the grounds that the content was “more degrading to women than to men.” So even though everyone had to listen to the show and nothing was directed at the employee specifically, it still counted as harassment “based on” her sex.
Legal semantics aside, the real mistake the company made was the manager’s weak response to the woman’s complaint. Of course, allegations about personal harassment need to be dealt with, but courts have also consistently ruled that just the presence of language or content that’s offensive to one gender, race, etc., is enough to bring a harassment or discrimination suit forward.
Cite: Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.
