Opinion ID: 767491
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence of a hostile working environment

Text: 25 Having found no procedural obstacle to considering Cruz's hostile work environment claim, we now turn to the merits. In order to survive summary judgment on a claim of hostile work environment harassment, a plaintiff must produce evidence that the workplace is permeated with 'discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult,' that is 'sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim's employment.' Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21, 126 L. Ed. 2d 295, 114 S. Ct. 367 (1993) (quoting Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 65, 67, 91 L. Ed. 2d 49, 106 S. Ct. 2399 (1986)). Isolated instances of harassment ordinarily do not rise to this level. See, e.g., Kotcher v. Rosa & Sullivan Appliance Ctr., Inc., 957 F.2d 59, 62 (2d Cir. 1992). Rather, the plaintiff must demonstrate either that a single incident was extraordinarily severe, or that a series of incidents were sufficiently continuous and concerted to have altered the conditions of her working environment. Perry v. Ethan Allen, Inc., 115 F.3d 143, 149 (2d Cir. 1997) (quoting Carrero v. New York City Housing Auth., 890 F.2d 569, 577 (2d Cir. 1989)) (internal quotation marks omitted). 26 Determining whether workplace harassment was severe or pervasive enough to be actionable depends on the totality of the circumstances. Because the crucial inquiry focuses on the nature of the workplace environment as a whole, a plaintiff who herself experiences discriminatory harassment need not be the target of other instances of hostility in order for those incidents to support her claim. See 115 F.3d at 150-51. Nor must offensive remarks or behavior be directed at individuals who are members of the plaintiff's own protected class. Remarks targeting members of the other minorities, for example, may contribute to the overall hostility of the working environment for a minority employee. See Schwapp v. Town of Avon, 118 F.3d 106, 111-12 (2d Cir. 1997) (finding that harassment of other minorities was relevant to whether a black police officer experienced a racially hostile or abusive working environment). 27 In this case, the record on summary judgment contains sufficient evidence of both racial and sexual harassment to create a triable question on Cruz's hostile work environment claim. Cruz's case primarily involves the behavior of Rick Bloom, a supervisor in another Coach department to whom Cruz frequently turned for assistance on various work-related matters. Regarding the racial claim, Cruz testified that beginning on her first day at Coach, Bloom repeatedly would make loud racial comment[s] -- including use of the word nigger -- during Cruz's daily trips to the mailroom. Marva Brown, another Coach employee, further testified that Bloom constantly made racially derogatory remarks, including references to spics and Colored People's Time. In addition, former employee Eugene Bampoe stated in his affidavit that between 1993 and either 1995 or 1996, the period during which he was employed at Coach, he repeatedly heard Bloom use racial epithets and make remarks such as, the only other job you [Hispanic] people can do is sweep the floors in McDonald's. 28 With respect to her claim of sexual harassment, Cruz testified that during her same daily trips to the mailroom, Bloom would make repeated remarks to the effect that women should be barefoot and pregnant. Furthermore, Cruz testified, Bloom would stand very close to women when talking to them and would look[] at [them] up and down in a way that's very uncomfortable. On these occasions, Cruz testified, Bloom would move increasingly close to her, so usually if there is a wall I end up against the wall talking to him, and what I'll do is cut the conversation short and leave. When Cruz informed Bloom that she disliked this behavior, he would either laugh or ignore her. 29 Viewing this evidence -- and the other instances of harassment to which Cruz and others testified -- as we must, in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, we find that Cruz has met her burden of demonstrating an atmosphere of both racial and sexual hostility. 6 Although the district court characterized Bloom's racial harassment as occurring on only one occasion, Cruz, 1998 WL 812045, at , Cruz has adduced evidence that Bloom in fact subjected her and others to blatant racial epithets on a regular if not constant basis. From this evidence, a jury reasonably might conclude that Bloom, a Coach supervisor, created a working environment that was hostile to Cruz on the basis of her race. Cf. Richardson v. New York State Dep't of Correctional Serv., 180 F.3d 426, 439 (2d Cir. 1999) (Perhaps no single act can more quickly 'alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment' than the use of an unambiguously racial epithet such as 'nigger' by a supervisor in the presence of his subordinates. (quoting Rodgers v. Western-Southern Life Ins. Co., 12 F.3d 668, 675 (7th Cir. 1993)). Moreover, even if Cruz herself were not present or were not the target of some of Bloom's racial remarks, a jury plausibly could find that his persistently offensive conduct created an overall hostile or abusive environment, Harris, 510 U.S. at 21, which exacerbated the effect of the harassment Cruz experienced individually. Cf. Schwapp, 118 F.3d at 112 (Whether Schwapp was aware of [harassment directed at others] during his employment, and, more significantly, whether in light of these incidents, the incidents Schwapp experienced more directly 'would reasonable be perceived, and [were] perceived, as hostile or abusive,' are factual issues that should be resolved by a trier of fact. (quoting Harris, 510 U.S. at 22) (alterations in original)). 30 Similarly, we find that a reasonable jury could view the sexual harassment Cruz experienced as severe and pervasive enough to alter the conditions of her working environment. The district court apparently considered the instances of sexual harassment in this case too vague or isolated to support a hostile work environment claim. See Cruz, 1998 WL 812045, at . We find, however, that the physically threatening nature of Bloom's behavior, which repeatedly ended with him backing Cruz into the wall until she had to cut the conversation short in order to extricate herself, brings this case over the line separating merely offensive or boorish conduct from actionable sexual harassment. Although the record does not reveal how often Bloom engaged in this behavior, it does suggest that Cruz encountered Bloom on a daily basis. Drawing inferences in favor of the plaintiff, a reasonable jury could conclude that Bloom physically harassed Cruz regularly throughout her tenure at Coach in a manner that was hostile to her because of her sex. 31 Cruz's claim finds further support, moreover, in the interplay between the two forms of harassment. Given the evidence of both race-based and sex-based hostility, a jury could find that Bloom's racial harassment exacerbated the effect of his sexually threatening behavior and vice versa. Cf. Hafford v. Seidner, 183 F.3d 506, 515 (6th Cir. 1999) (recognizing that evidence of religious harassment could help support racial hostile work environment claim); Hicks v. Gates Rubber Co., 833 F.2d 1406, 1416 (10th Cir. 1987) (noting that evidence of racial harassment may help establish sexually hostile work environment). 7 Based on the evidence Cruz presented of both racial and sexual harassment, therefore, a jury reasonably could conclude that Bloom's behavior alter[ed] the conditions of [her] employment based on her race and/or her gender. Harris, 510 U.S. at 21. Accordingly, we vacate the district court's grant of summary judgment on Cruz's hostile work environment claim. 8