Opinion ID: 787947
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bell Atlantic's Liability for the Hostile Work Environment

Text: 54 Because the district court concluded that Bell Atlantic was entitled to summary judgment on the first element of a hostile work environment claim, it did not reach the second element: whether any harassing conduct can fairly be imputed to the employer for purposes of assessing liability. See Mack v. Otis Elevator Co., 326 F.3d at 122. Bell Atlantic submits that, on the record before this court, this question of vicarious liability can be resolved in its favor as a matter of law, thereby providing an alternative ground for affirming the district court's award of summary judgment. In the exercise of our discretion and in the interests of judicial economy, we address this issue, see Booking v. General Star Mgmt. Co., 254 F.3d 414, 418-19 (2d Cir.2001) (recognizing appellate court's discretion to consider issues raised in the district court but not resolved there), and conclude that disputed issues of fact preclude a summary award in favor of Bell Atlantic on the second as well as the first element of a hostile work environment claim. 55 The Supreme Court has ruled that employers are not automatically liable for sexual harassment perpetrated by their employees. See Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998); Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998). Where an employee is the victim of sexual harassment, including harassment in the form of a hostile work environment, by non-supervisory co-workers, an employer's vicarious liability depends on the plaintiff showing that the employer knew (or reasonably should have known) about the harassment but failed to take appropriate remedial action. See Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. at 789; accord Whidbee v. Garzarelli Food Specialties, Inc., 223 F.3d 62, 72 (2d Cir.2000). Where the harassment is attributed to a supervisor with immediate or successively higher authority over the employee, a court looks first to whether the supervisor's behavior culminate[d] in a tangible employment action against the employee, Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 765, 118 S.Ct. 2257; if it did, the employer will, ipso facto, be vicariously liable, Mack v. Otis Elevator Co., 326 F.3d at 124. In the absence of such tangible action, an employer will still be liable for a hostile work environment created by its supervisors unless it successfully establishes as an affirmative defense that (a) it exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior, and (b) the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer or to avoid harm otherwise. Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 765, 118 S.Ct. 2257; accord Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. at 807, 118 S.Ct. 2275; Mack v. Otis Elevator Co., 326 F.3d at 125. 56 In this case, Petrosino asserts that Bell Atlantic is automatically vicariously liable for the gender-hostile work environment created by its employees and supervisors because that conduct culminated in two tangible adverse employment actions: her failure to receive managerial promotions and her constructive discharge. See Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 124 S.Ct. 2342, 2351, 159 L.Ed.2d 204 (2004) (holding that constructive discharge may qualify as a tangible employment action depriving employer of right to assert affirmative defense when a supervisor's official act precipitates the constructive discharge); Mormol v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 364 F.3d 54, 57 (2d Cir.2004) (observing that a tangible employment action `constitutes a significant change in employment status, such as hiring, firing, failing to promote, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities, or a decision causing a significant change in benefits' (quoting Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 761, 118 S.Ct. 2257)). Because we affirm the district court's award of summary judgment to Bell Atlantic on Petrosino's promotion and discharge claims, see infra part III(B)-(C), a question arises as to whether she can persist in her assertion of automatic vicarious liability on the surviving hostile work environment claim. Mindful that the parties have not had an opportunity to brief this point, we do not attempt to resolve it now. The parties may, however, pursue the matter on remand in the district court. 57 Even if we assume that Bell Atlantic cannot be held automatically liable but can assert an affirmative defense to liability, we nevertheless conclude that the assertion of that defense presents disputed questions of material fact that necessarily preclude an award of summary judgment with regard to Petrosino's surviving hostile work environment claim. Specifically, to support the reasonable care element of the affirmative defense, Bell Atlantic relies on its documented corporate policy against sexual harassment, including its establishment of an Ethics Hotline, which allows employees to report incidents of harassment. Certainly, [o]ne way for employers to demonstrate that they exercised reasonable care is to show that they had an anti-harassment policy in place, but that fact alone is not necessarily dispositive. Mack v. Otis Elevator Co., 326 F.3d at 128. In this case, Petrosino does not dispute the existence of Bell Atlantic's complaint hotline, but she does challenge its effectiveness in promptly correcting reported sexual harassment. She asserts that when she telephoned the hotline in May 1997 to complain of gender discrimination by her supervisor Mangiero, her request to discuss her concerns with a female counselor was refused. Thereafter, no one investigated her complaint or took any remedial action. Bell Atlantic disputes this account and produces documentary evidence suggesting that Petrosino failed to return follow-up calls. It further asserts that Petrosino unreasonably failed to pursue her 1997 claim or her other charges of sexual harassment with further calls to the hotline. Bell Atlantic's argument is not without appeal, but on review of a motion for summary judgment, we cannot ourselves resolve the parties' factual disagreement. We are obliged to view the evidence in the light most favorable to Petrosino, which means that we must assume that a factfinder will credit her version of events and conclude that Bell Atlantic failed adequately to investigate and promptly to correct her formal and informal reports of sexual harassment. With that assumption in mind, we cannot conclude as a matter of law that Bell Atlantic has so conclusively demonstrated the effectiveness of its anti-harassment policy or the unreasonableness of Petrosino's actions to be absolved from liability for any gender-hostile environment created by its employees and supervisors at the Edgewater Garage. 58 Accordingly, we reverse the award of summary judgment to Bell Atlantic on Petrosino's claim of sexual harassment in the form of a hostile work environment and remand this portion of the case for trial.