Hostile Work Environment: Jury Awards $2.17M to Ex-Employee

A federal jury in Texas has awarded $2.17 million to a female parts clerk to resolve a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC.

The verdict, based on a finding that the employer subjected the woman to a hostile work environment, is the largest jury trial award ever obtained by the EEOC in the Northern District of Texas, the agency recently announced.

Here’s what happened – and what you can do to help prevent a similar mistake at your company.

Do Crude Remarks Prove Hostile Work Environment?

Sarah Budd worked for SkyWest Airlines at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. She was a female parts clerk in a mostly male department. 

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, several co-workers and at least one male manager made crude sexual comments to Budd that amounted to a hostile work environment.

How bad were these allegedly crude comments? According to Budd:

• A co-worker asked if she “liked whips and chains” on her first day.
• Co-workers suggested she could make money through prostitution.
• They asked her to perform sex acts.
• They made jokes and remarks about rape and rape victims, including saying that women who reported rape did so to get attention.

“They didn’t seem to care if I was uncomfortable,” Budd later told the jury. “In fact, it only spurred them on more. … It’s like they enjoyed my discomfort.”

Questions About Company’s Response

Budd said she reported the sexual harassment to her supervisor, but no response was taken to address the hostile work environment she endured.

She then escalated the complaint to the employee relations department. But the employee relations manager didn’t interview several of the employees who were identified as witnesses to and participants in the harassment, Budd claimed. 

Nor did the manager “ask obvious follow-up questions.” In Budd’s view, the manager’s failure to ask the right follow-up questions meant the investigation didn’t uncover the full extent of the harassment and the hostile work environment she worked in.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, SkyWest promised to discipline participating co-workers and provide department-wide training, but it canceled the training after Budd left the company, deciding it was no longer necessary. 

SkyWest eventually conducted training three years later, and only in response to litigation, the EEOC asserted.

EEOC Sues Over Hostile Work Environment

In the EEOC’s view, the alleged conduct violated Title VII, which prohibits sex-based discrimination and harassment and also prohibits retaliation for reporting a hostile work environment. 

The agency filed a lawsuit on Budd’s behalf, and the case reached a jury.

The jury returned a unanimous verdict in Budd’s favor, finding SkyWest subjected Budd to a hostile work environment based on her sex and that the company knew or should have known of the harassment but failed to take prompt remedial action.

All told, the jury awarded $2.17 million to Budd – $2 million in punitive damages and $170,000 for emotional harm. The award was reduced to $300,000 based on Title VII’s caps on damages.

“Ms. Budd had over a decade of experience at SkyWest and before the sexual harassment occurred and had intended to retire there,” said Alexa Lang, a trial attorney in the EEOC’s Dallas District Office. “All Ms. Budd wanted was to be heard and to stop this from happening to other women. The jury heard her. We hope the verdict sends a message to SkyWest and other employers that they must take responsibility for making sure their workplaces are free from sexually hostile conduct. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work.”

Key Takeaway for HR

This past spring, we outlined six manager mistakes that can get your company sued. This current case involves mistake number five from the list: Ignoring employees’ complaints.

So how can HR prevent managers from making blunders that land companies in court?

Employment attorney Joy Einstein previously shared with HRMorning what procedures managers should follow if an employee complains about harassment or discrimination.

Managers should be trained to report the complaint to whomever at the company is tasked with dealing with such complaints, according to Einstein.

Once the situation has been referred to the appropriate person, HR can take the lead to ensure the complaint is properly handled. HR, often with the manager’s input, then goes through the process of responding to the employee’s complaint, which includes:

• Determining whether immediate action, such as a leave of absence, is appropriate
• Conducting an investigation, and interviewing the parties
• Making a determination, and if the complaint has merit, deciding on a course of action to prevent future harassment or discrimination, and
• Discussing the results of the investigation with the complainant and the accused.