Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 796

524US2

Unit: $U99

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 742 (1998)

751

Opinion of the Court

mere threat to do a company act rather than the act itself,
and in these circumstances, an employer can be found liable
for its negligence only.
Ibid. Chief Judge Posner also
found Ellerth failed to create a triable issue of fact as to
Burlington’s negligence.

Id., at 517.
Judge Coffey rejected all of the above approaches because
he favored a uniform standard of negligence in almost all
sexual harassment cases.

Id., at 518.

The disagreement revealed in the careful opinions of the
judges of the Court of Appeals reﬂects the fact that Con-
gress has left it to the courts to determine controlling agency
law principles in a new and difﬁcult area of federal law. We
granted certiorari to assist in deﬁning the relevant standards
of employer liability.

522 U. S. 1086 (1998).

II

At the outset, we assume an important proposition yet to
be established before a trier of fact.
It is a premise assumed
as well, in explicit or implicit terms, in the various opinions
by the judges of the Court of Appeals. The premise is: A
trier of fact could ﬁnd in Slowik’s remarks numerous threats
to retaliate against Ellerth if she denied some sexual liber-
ties. The threats, however, were not carried out or fulﬁlled.
Cases based on threats which are carried out are referred
to often as quid pro quo cases, as distinct from bothersome
attentions or sexual remarks that are sufﬁciently severe or
pervasive to create a hostile work environment. The terms
quid pro quo and hostile work environment are helpful, per-
haps, in making a rough demarcation between cases in which
threats are carried out and those where they are not or are
absent altogether, but beyond this are of limited utility.

Section 703(a) of Title VII forbids

“an employer—
“(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individ-
ual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual
with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or