That means workers can successfully sue only when they did not solicit the attention and regarded it as offensive. But they also could portend a new round of such legal dilemmas at the court. Those hearings raised awareness about alleged misconduct between bosses and their workers. The cases now before the court are very important. I think it will be helpful to parties on both sides to have the issues clarified.
Harassment affects productivity and morale.
Hill's unproven accusations against now-Justice Thomas continue to draw public interest, as have, since 1991, several other disputes on the subject. The prohibition on sex discrimination was a little-discussed amendment to civil rights legislation primarily intended to protect blacks. In 1986, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the court that harassment that creates an offensive or hostile environment is illegal sex discrimination. In 1993, the court said victims need not show that they suffered serious psychological injury as a result of the harassment. So long as the environment would reasonably be perceived, and is perceived, as hostile or abusive, there is no need for it also to be psychologically injurious.