Opinion ID: 168698
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Harsco Corporation's Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law

Text: 18 This court reviews de novo a district court's denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law, applying the same standard as the district court. Baty v. Willamette Indus., Inc., 172 F.3d 1232, 1241 (10th Cir.1999), abrogated on other grounds by Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101, 122 S.Ct. 2061, 153 L.Ed.2d 106 (2002). We may find error in the district court's ruling only if the evidence points but one way and is susceptible to no reasonable inferences supporting the party opposing the motion. Vining v. Enterprise Fin. Group, Inc. 148 F.3d 1206, 1213 (10th Cir.1998). We construe the evidence and inferences most favorably to the nonmoving party, and will refuse to weigh the evidence, pass on the credibility of the witnesses, or substitute our conclusions for those of the jury. Harolds Stores, Inc., 82 F.3d at 1546. However, we must enter judgment as a matter of law in favor of the moving party if there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis with respect to a claim or defense under the controlling law. Baty, 172 F.3d at 1241. Accordingly, the key issue is whether there was a legally sufficient basis for the jury to subject Harsco Corporation to liability under Title VII, even after viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Ms. Renner. 19 Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminat[ing] against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's ... sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). This statutory provision prohibits subjecting an employee to a hostile work environment. Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 64, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986); Dick v. Phone Directories Co., Inc., 397 F.3d 1256, 1262 (10th Cir.2005). To establish [that] a sexually hostile work environment existed, a plaintiff must prove the following elements: (1) she is a member of a protected group; (2) she was subject to unwelcome harassment; (3) the harassment was based on sex; and (4) [due to the harassment's severity or pervasiveness], the harassment altered a term, condition, or privilege of the plaintiff's employment and created an abusive working environment. Dick, 397 F.3d at 1262-63 (alteration in original). 20 But even if a plaintiff satisfies these elements, the plaintiff must identify one of three alternative bases for holding his or her employer liable under Title VII. The basis alleged here is that the employer was negligent or reckless. Under this theory, Ms. Renner was required to prove a fifth element of her claim: that Harsco Corporation had actual or constructive knowledge of the hostile work environment but did not adequately respond to notice of the harassment. Adler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 144 F.3d 664, 673 (10th Cir.1998). Here, the first and second elements are not in dispute, so we focus our discussion on the third, fourth, and fifth elements. 21 As to the third element—that the harassment must be because of the plaintiff's sex—the critical issue in determining whether harassment is because of sex is whether members of one sex are subjected to a disadvantage to which the other sex is not. Dick, 397 F.3d at 1263 (citing Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75, 80, 118 S.Ct. 998, 140 L.Ed.2d 201 (1998)). Ms. Renner could have proved this element through at least two evidentiary routes: first, the inference is `easy to draw' if the harasser and the harassed employee are of opposite sexes, at least when the conduct at issue involves `explicit or implicit proposals of sexual activity'; and second, a plaintiff may prove that the harasser treats men and women differently in the workplace. Id. at 1263-64. It is important to remember, however, that Title VII is not a general civility code for the American workplace. Oncale, 523 U.S. at 80, 118 S.Ct. 998. The harassment must be because of ... [the plaintiff's] sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). 22 The district court properly eschewed a mechanical approach to analyzing the evidence in favor of a totality of the circumstances test, and found that Ms. Renner submitted sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the discrimination was because of ... [her] sex. See Penry v. Fed. Home Loan Bank of Topeka, 155 F.3d 1257, 1262 (10th Cir.1998) (stating that the existence of harassment is to be considered in light of the record as a whole). Harsco Corporation challenges this finding by claiming that the basis for the harassment was Ms. Renner's strict quality control standards; it further avers that other male inspectors were similarly criticized. But Harsco Corporation fails to recognize both that Ms. Renner overheard some of these comments and that these comments were about Ms. Renner's alleged sexual performances with other inspectors. Harsco Corporation further contends that the animal noises, baby noises, and liar, liar comment were gender-neutral. 23 In essence, Harsco Corporation asks us to circumvent the proper totality of the circumstances test by conveniently stripping facts of their context, which we have affirmed to be the touchstone of our analysis. The jury heard about several gender-based comments and actions that only Ms. Renner was subjected to. Harsco Corporation has not demonstrated that no reasonable inference from the facts presented could support Ms. Renner's claim. 24 We now turn to the fourth element—the severity or pervasiveness requirement. Title VII's prohibition of harassment on the basis of sex forbids only behavior so objectively offensive as to alter the `conditions' of the victim's employment. Oncale, 523 U.S. at 81, 118 S.Ct. 998. Put otherwise, conduct that is not severe or pervasive enough to create an objectively hostile or abusive work environment—an environment that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive— is beyond Title VII's purview. Id. Thus, the Supreme Court made clear that juries ought not find prohibited harassment merely based on ordinary socializing, such as intersexual flirtation. Id. Instead, the jury is to judge the objective severity of the harassment from the perspective of a reasonable person in the plaintiff's position, considering all the circumstances. Id. See also Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 22, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993) (stating that if the victim does not subjectively perceive the environment to be abusive, then the conduct has not altered the conditions of the victim's employment, and there is no Title VII violation). Factors to consider include the frequency of the conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee's work performance. Harris, 510 U.S. at 23, 114 S.Ct. 367. 25 The defendant analyzes this element by citing cases denying Title VII relief even though the plaintiffs were purportedly subjected to egregious behavior. See, e.g., Penry v. Fed. Home Loan Bank of Topeka, 155 F.3d 1257 (10th Cir.1998); Shepherd v. Comptroller of Pub. Accounts, 168 F.3d 871 (5th Cir.1999); Quinn v. Green Tree Credit Corp., 159 F.3d 759 (2d Cir. 1998). But Harsco Corporation's attempt at reasoning by analogy fails because its mechanical comparison of a few strategically selected facts is precisely the type of analysis this court has rejected. Moreover, examination of these cases reveals that Harsco Corporation has oversimplified their findings. Penry involved isolated incidents over a four year period, most of which did not occur because of the plaintiffs' sex; the harasser and harassed in Shepherd engaged in friendly discussion on almost a daily basis and had a friendly relationship both inside and outside of work (except for the few intervening incidents), and there was no evidence that the alleged conduct would have unreasonably interfered with a reasonable person's work environment; and the court in Quinn struck all but two of the plaintiff's allegations because they were time barred, leaving her to rely only on the evidence that she was voted sleekest ass in the office and that a co-worker deliberately touched her breasts with papers that he was holding in his hands. 26 Harsco Corporation exaggerates the severity and pervasiveness of the harassment in these cases and improperly discounts the evidence of harassment of Ms. Renner before the jury. Ms. Renner submitted an abundance of facts to support her claim. The substance of her proof reveals an environment polluted with gender-specific comments and behavior that exceeded the mere flirtatiousness or baseness that has been found not to support a Title VII claim. Harsco Corporation failed to show that no reasonable inference from the facts could support Ms. Renner's claim. 27 Finally, Ms. Renner was required to prove that Harsco Corporation failed to reasonably respond to her harassment allegations of which it was actually or constructively aware. An employer will not be liable under Title VII if the employer was not on actual or constructive notice of the alleged harassment. Adler, 144 F.3d at 673. Actual knowledge is usually demonstrable where the plaintiff has reported harassment to management-level employees. Id. Moreover, the pervasiveness of sexual harassment can properly lead to an inference of knowledge. Id. 28 Harsco Corporation cites to evidence that Ms. Renner lodged formal complaints with management about workplace harassment on only two occasions, that on both of those occasions management took quick and effective corrective action, and that on both of those occasions Ms. Renner reported to management that the harassment had ceased. The company contends that, in light of this evidence, it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. As the district court pointed out, however, Harsco's argument ... creates the erroneous impression that the evidence of Harsco's response to the harassment was wholly uncontroverted at trial, and this was simply not the case. Order of June 22, 2005 at 7. 29 Ms. Renner presented evidence to the jury that in addition to her two formal complaints, she also made oral complaints to appropriate management officials and that her co-worker, Mr. World, informed management that the harassment had not ceased in response to corrective measures. (There was evidence that it was company policy to investigate harassment complaints made by third parties.) Ms. Renner also submitted evidence that Harsco Corporation's investigation of her first complaint was perfunctory at best and that Harsco Corporation did not respond to her oral complaints or to Mr. World's complaint that Ms. Renner was being harassed. The jury also heard evidence that one manager responded to her complaint by effectively saying, well, what do you want me to do about it?; that management neither asked Ms. Renner for witnesses nor observed her work area to detect harassing behavior; that management failed to prevent Mr. Bailey from continuing to invade her work area notwithstanding his repeated behavior; and that management did not even interview the alleged perpetrators. Finally, the jury was told that the management continued to brush off the complaints by stating that these men are allowed to be anywhere they want to be and say what they want—as long as it isn't said directly to [Ms. Renner]. 30 For purpose of appeal, it is not our role to weigh the evidence or second-guess the jury's resolution of conflicting testimony. The company's recitation of the evidence in its favor is beside the point. The jury had ample evidence before it to conclude that Harsco Corporation had notice of the ongoing harassment of Ms. Renner and that its response was legally insufficient. We therefore find no error in the district court's denial of Harsco Corporation's motion for judgment as a matter of law on Title VII liability.