Articles Posted in Hostile Work Environment

Workplace harassment is almost always a nuisance. It is not necessarily always illegal under laws like the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL). Harassment only violates the law when it is based on a protected category like race or sex, and when it directly impacts a person’s employment or the quality of the work environment. When assessing whether harassment crosses the line between a nuisance and an unlawful employment practice, New York City discrimination attorneys must carefully examine the circumstances of each case.

What Is Harassment?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces federal antidiscrimination laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, defines harassment as “unwelcome conduct that is based on” a protected category. It states that harassment based on one or more of these categories becomes unlawful in two situations:
1. Quid pro quo harassment: The complainant must “endur[e] the offensive conduct” as “a condition of continued employment”; or
2. Hostile work environment: The allegedly harassing conduct is so “severe or pervasive” that it “create[s] a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.”

If the alleged harasser is a supervisor with authority over the complainant’s employment, the employer may be held liable even if management did not know about the conduct. See Vance v. Ball State University, 570 U.S. 421 (2013). If the alleged harasser is a co-worker, customer, or other individual, the complainant must demonstrate that the employer knew about the harassment and failed to remedy it.
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Many sexual harassment claims involve patterns of inappropriate comments. When assessing whether comments are inappropriate and of a sexual nature, New York City sexual harassment lawyers must consider verbal cues, body language, and facial expressions. Most or all of those cues are missing, however, in written communications. This is particularly true when emoji symbols are involved. “Emoji sexual harassment” is a relatively new, but quickly growing, area of law. Some lawsuits include emoji among the alleged inappropriate comments, often based on secondary meanings ascribed to particular symbols. At the same time, some courts have cited plaintiffs’ use of emoji when ruling for defendants.

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination in violation of the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), the New York State Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unlawful sexual harassment generally takes two forms. “Hostile work environment” occurs when pervasive and unwelcome sexual behavior interferes with a person’s ability to do their job. “Quid pro quo sexual harassment” occurs when submission to some form of sexual activity is made a condition of obtaining or keeping employment. Unwanted sexual remarks or overtures are a common feature of both types of sexual harassment claim.

Emoji are a set of small images that can be inserted into text messages on smartphones, as well as in emails and social media services like Facebook. Certain symbols have taken on specific meanings. An article in Wired describes the symbols as “a primitive language.” As a result of this, the inclusion of emoji in a text message can convey unintended meanings, or plausibly-deniable meanings. Emoji symbols that depict objects that might be considered phallic, such as the corn and eggplant symbols, have taken on that secondary meaning. Even symbols that seem to have obvious meanings, like the “smiley face” emoji, can be subject to multiple interpretations.
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Local, state, and federal employment statutes protect New York City workers from discrimination and harassment. Laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) view sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination, and allow aggrieved individuals to file suit for damages. A lawsuit filed last year in federal court alleges a sequence of events that is familiar to New York City sexual harassment attorneys. The plaintiff claims that a supervisor subjected her to unwanted sexual remarks and advances, and that school administrators retaliated against her for reporting the harassment. Thomas v. N.Y.C. Dept. of Educ., et al, No. 1:18-cv-04459, complaint (E.D.N.Y., Aug. 7, 2018).

Title VII, the NYCHRL, and the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, among other factors. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a), N.Y. Exec. L. § 296(1)(a), N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107(a). Various court decisions have identified sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination under these statutes. One situation involves a hostile work environment in which “a man or woman [must] run a gauntlet of sexual abuse in return for the privilege of being allowed to work and make a living.” Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 66-67 (1986), quoting Henson v. Dundee, 682 F.2d 897, 902 (11th Cir. 1982).

The plaintiff in Thomas states in her complaint that she began working for the New York City public school system as a teacher in 1988, and received tenure in 1996. She began working at a magnet school in Queens in 1998, where she “transitioned into a role as a Guidance Counselor.” Thomas, complaint at 4. The plaintiff identifies several individuals who served as principal of the school during her time there. She alleges that, until recently, she regularly received “positive and satisfactory formal and informal observations” from her supervisors. Id.

The theater offers actors, directors, producers, and others countless opportunities for artistic expression. Unfortunately, what might seem like bold artistic expression to a few people often looks like harassment to others. Even more unfortunately, the theater is prone to the same power dynamics and imbalances that New York City sexual harassment lawyers see in almost every type of workplace. For more than a year, the country’s attention has been focused on abuses of power in film, television, and other media—mostly but not exclusively men—resulting in sexual harassment and assault. The theater business is no different, but many theaters are now acknowledging the problem. In addition to removing individuals accused repeatedly of harassment, some theaters are working to change their cultures. A theater near New York City recently fired its longtime artistic director after multiple allegations sexual harassment, and then announced changes to its “big personality workplace culture.”

Laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination on the basis of numerous factors, including sex. Sexual harassment in the workplace constitutes unlawful employment discrimination when sexual activity is made a condition of employment, or when it creates a hostile work environment that prevents an individual from doing their job. These laws give aggrieved employees recourse in the court system, allowing them to recover monetary damages and other relief. These laws are not very effective, however, at changing the workplace cultures that allow sexual harassment to occur, or even flourish.

Discrimination lawsuits brought by agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) occasionally lead to changes in workplace culture. A settlement or judgment might require an employer to adopt policies and provide training regarding sexual harassment. The EEOC has the authority, and ostensibly has the resources, to monitor compliance with such provisions. The extent to which they are successful in changing workplace culture is a matter of debate. Real change, as the saying goes, must come from within.
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The performing arts, including music, theater, and dance, are among the most famous features of New York City. Sexual harassment is unfortunately still common for performers and workers, despite recent efforts to bring attention and consequences to those who perpetrate or enable this sort of conduct. Statutes like the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) view certain types of sexual harassment as unlawful discrimination in employment on the basis of sex. A recent lawsuit filed against the city’s largest ballet company demonstrates that laws like the NYCHRL are not the only tools available to New York City sexual harassment lawyers. A former student at the ballet’s dance school alleges that the ballet company negligently allowed an environment of sexual harassment in Waterbury v. N.Y.C. Ballet, Inc., et al, No. 158220/2018, am. complaint (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty., Sep. 18, 2018).

Hostile work environment is one type of sexual harassment covered by the NYCHRL and other statutes. It occurs when unwelcome sexual remarks, jokes, or advances impede an individual’s ability to perform their job duties. If acts allegedly constituting a hostile work environment also threaten workplace safety, privacy, or other legal interests, a negligence claim may be possible. Negligence is based on common-law principles. A plaintiff must establish four elements: 1) the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff or the general public; 2) the defendant breached that duty; 3) the breach was the cause-in-fact of the plaintiff’s injuries; and 4) the plaintiff suffered measurable, compensable damage. Businesses have a duty to provide a reasonably safe environment for customers, employees, and others who would ordinarily be expected to be present on their premises. Employers have a duty to provide reasonably safe work environments for their employees.

The plaintiff in Waterbury is a ballet dancer and a former student at the ballet company’s school. She alleges that the company maintains a “fraternity-like atmosphere” that “emboldens [it and its dancers] to disregard the law and violate the basic rights of women.” Waterbury, complaint at 2. She studied at the ballet company’s dance school, and entered into a dating relationship with a male dancer. Her complaint describes a wide range of alleged conduct by dancers and others in the ballet company, and alleges that the company either ignored or enabled the conduct “so long as the institution continued to sell tickets and was profitable.” Id. at 8.
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New York City is renowned for its theater scene. Broadway theaters offer some of the best and most well-regarded productions in the world. The various levels of “off-Broadway” theaters offer everything from the familiar to the avant-garde. Given what we know about other media industries, it should be no surprise that theater workers must also deal with sexual harassment. New York City’s theater scene has taken some steps to address the issue, but it remains a serious problem. Reports from earlier this year revealed allegations of sexual harassment and assault in a popular “immersive” theater production, where audience members may interact directly with performers, and a few have allegedly groped cast members. In order to address this sort of situation, New York City sexual harassment attorneys may not only have to identify the legal relationships between the various parties, but also the ways in which the nature of the production itself could put people at risk.

Under statutes like the New York City Human Rights Law, sexual harassment is an unlawful form of sex discrimination in two broad scenarios. Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when an individual with managerial or supervisory authority demands some sort of sexual activity in exchange for employment or various perks of employment. One example of this in the entertainment world is the “casting couch,” in which a producer or director will cast someone in their production in exchange for sexual activity.

The other legally-actionable form of sexual harassment occurs when a pattern of unwelcome sexual conduct creates a hostile work environment that inhibits the ability to do one’s job. The perpetrators of a hostile work environment do not have to be in a superior position to the complainant for a claim to be viable. They could be co-workers, customers, or audience members. The complainant must, however, be able to show that the employer knew about the harassment and failed to take reasonable steps to deal with it.
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