Opinion ID: 783149
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Caltech's Liability On A Hostile Environment Theory

Text: 54 Even if no tangible employment action has been proven, a plaintiff may still recover for severe or pervasive sexual harassment that results in a hostile work environment; unlike in tangible employment action cases, however, the employer has the opportunity to avoid liability for such claims by establishing the elements of the reasonable care affirmative defense described in Faragher/Ellerth. Faragher, 524 U.S. at 807-08, 118 S.Ct. 2275; Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 765, 118 S.Ct. 2257. In the present case, we assume without deciding that, for purposes of summary judgment, Holly D. has established a prima facie case of hostile environment harassment by offering evidence regarding Wiggins's frequent and persistent efforts to force unwelcome sexual commentary and materials upon her, including the display of pornographic computer images and regular explanations of his sexual interests and activities, despite her communicated lack of interest in the subject. Nevertheless, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Caltech on the hostile environment claim because Caltech has established both parts of the reasonable care defense. 55 To prevail on the affirmative defense of reasonable care, an employer must prove (a) that [it] exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior, and (b) that the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by [it] or to avoid harm otherwise. Id. Holly D. contends that she has raised a genuine issue of material fact as to the reasonableness of Caltech's preventive and corrective measures and of her decision to forego those procedures. We disagree on both counts. 56
57 Holly D. first asserts that Caltech did not take reasonable care in the design of its anti-harassment policy. To support this contention, she offers the expert opinion of Professor Brian Kleiner, whose declaration states that he would testify at trial that an effective sexual harassment program could reasonably include each of six components not offered by Caltech—such as peer review of supervisors and mandatory sexual harassment training for employees. Professor Kleiner also states that he would testify that an employer could reasonably communicate a sexual harassment policy by each of nine means not employed by Caltech, including role-playing sessions and training videos. 58 The legal standard for evaluating an employer's efforts to prevent and correct harassment, however, is not whether any additional steps or measures would have been reasonable if employed, but whether the employer's actions as a whole established a reasonable mechanism for prevention and correction. See Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 765, 118 S.Ct. 2257. Caltech had promulgated a written policy which defined prohibited behavior, identified contact personnel, and established procedures to investigate and resolve any claims. It made this policy available in several publications, at least one of which Holly D. received in 1996, when she began working with Professor Wiggins. Caltech also conducted periodic training on sexual harassment, which it publicized to staff and faculty by email, including at least one email sent in 1998 during the period when Holly D. was allegedly being harassed. Holly D. testified that she knew about this training, and indeed, that she knew that Wiggins's behavior constituted sexual harassment. On this record, Professor Kleiner's expert testimony does not sufficiently undermine Caltech's written anti-harassment policy, which on its face is reasonable. 59 Holly D. next contends that even if Caltech's policy was facially reasonable, it was unreasonably implemented, and that Caltech failed promptly to correct harassment when it occurred. She charges, for example, that Caltech gave unfair deference to its faculty such that no administrative employee could expect to prevail on a harassment charge. However, she has offered absolutely no evidence to support this allegation. 22 When Caltech learned about Holly D.'s allegations for the first time in June 1999 as the result of her filing a claim with the EEOC, it promptly convened an investigatory committee, which impartially interviewed every witness suggested by either Holly D. or Wiggins. At first, the investigatory committee found insufficient evidence of harassment, but nevertheless recommended that Holly D. be transferred to work for a female professor in a different department and location and that Wiggins be reminded of Caltech's harassment policy. Moreover, although post complaint conduct will not exonerate a party at fault, we note that once Caltech gained access to the physical evidence belying Wiggins's assertion that no sexual contact had occurred — evidence that Holly D. declined to provide to the investigating committee — Wiggins was immediately asked for his resignation and promptly resigned. 60 Professor Kleiner attacks these efforts as seriously flawed, by contending that during its initial investigation, Caltech should have interviewed Professor Wiggins's former secretary, inspected Professor Wiggins's computer for bookmarks to pornographic websites, and examined Professor Wiggins's intimate areas to corroborate Holly D.'s alleged knowledge of his anatomy. 23 Even were we to assume that all of these additional steps were advisable, Caltech's failure to pursue all possible leads does not undermine the substantial showing in this case that its investigation was, in toto, both prompt and reasonable. On the evidence presented, therefore, we find that Holly D. has raised no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Caltech exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct sexual harassment. 61
62 To prove its affirmative defense, Caltech must prove both that its efforts to provide relief were reasonable and that Holly D.'s decision to forego the available avenues of relief was unreasonable. See Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 765, 118 S.Ct. 2257; 1999 EEOC Guidance at § V.B. This second prong of the defense is intended to fulfill a policy imported from the general theory of damages, that a victim has a duty `to use such means as are reasonable under the circumstances to avoid or minimize the damages' that result from violations of the statute. Faragher, 524 U.S. at 806, 118 S.Ct. 2275 (quoting Ford Motor Co. v. EEOC, 458 U.S. 219, 231 n. 15, 102 S.Ct. 3057, 73 L.Ed.2d 721 (1982)). And while proof that an employee failed to fulfill the . . . obligation of reasonable care to avoid harm is not limited to showing an unreasonable failure to use any complaint procedure provided by the employer, a demonstration of such failure will normally suffice to satisfy the employer's burden under the second element of the defense. Id. at 807-08, 118 S.Ct. 2275. 63 Here, it is undisputed that Holly D. sought no relief of any kind from Caltech until June 1999, after a full year of unwelcome sexual activity and almost two years after the first sexual incident. Holly D. explains her hesitation by asserting that she did not feel comfortable pursuing assistance from Caltech's employee relations department because she went to them on two occasions and [she] was unsatisfied with how they handled her disability discrimination complaint. Even if Holly D.'s hesitation to engage the employee relations department were reasonable — and we do not believe that it was — she has offered no evidence to explain why she did not seek help through any of the other sources affiliated with Caltech. The Division Administrator, Division Chair, Provost, Dean, Staff and Faculty Consultation Center, Counseling Center, and Women's Center at Caltech were all specifically identified by Caltech's written policy materials as equipped to offer assistance in cases of sexual harassment, but Holly D. made no attempt to seek relief from any person able to help put a stop to the harassment. Under similar circumstances, we have found a complete failure to use available and adequate procedures to be unreasonable. See Kohler v. Inter-Tel Techs., 244 F.3d 1167, 1181-82 (9th Cir. 2001); Montero v. Agco Corp., 192 F.3d 856, 863 (9th Cir.1999). Holly D. has presented no evidence to indicate that a different conclusion would be appropriate here. 24 64 Because Holly D. has not presented evidence sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact either on her tangible employment action claim or on Caltech's affirmative defense to her hostile environment claim, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to Caltech on her Title VII claim. 65