Opinion ID: 684117
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Standards Governing Sexual Harassment Claims

Text: 13 In Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986), the Supreme Court, speaking through now-Chief Justice Rehnquist, squarely held that Title VII's prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sex protected a worker against an employer who perpetrates or permits unwelcome sexual advances that create an offensive or hostile working environment. Id. at 64, 106 S.Ct. at 2404. This protection extends not only to the tangible economic aspects of employment but also to the psychological aspects of the workplace environment. The Court explicitly recognized that such harassment need not be linked to an economic quid pro quo; rather, it encompasses all forms of conduct that unreasonably interfere with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. Id. The Court also noted, however, that not all conduct that has sexual overtones can be characterized as the sort of sexual harassment that is forbidden by the statute. For the harassment to be actionable, it must be sufficiently severe or pervasive as to alter the conditions of the victim's employment and to create an abusive working atmosphere. Id. at 67, 106 S.Ct. at 2405-06. More recently, in Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993), the Court, this time through the pen of Justice O'Connor, reaffirmed that standard and noted that concrete psychological harm is not a necessary predicate to maintain a cause of action. Id. at ---- - ----, 114 S.Ct. at 370-71. Moreover, the conduct in question is to be judged by both an objective and a subjective standard. The statute protects the worker against conduct a reasonable person might find hostile or abusive. However, if the victim does not subjectively regard the environment as abusive, the conduct has not actually altered the victim's employment and there is accordingly no Title VII violation. Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 370. Noting that this approach is not susceptible to a mathematically precise test, the Court held that the required determination can be made only by evaluating all of the circumstances--the frequency of the discriminatory conduct, its severity, whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, and whether it unreasonably interferes with the worker's performance. 14 The caselaw of this circuit has applied these governing principles to a variety of circumstances and, in the process, has provided additional guidance for our decision today. In a comprehensive review of this area, this court's opinion in Dey v. Colt Construction & Development Co., 28 F.3d 1446 (7th Cir.1994), addressed both the objective and subjective aspects of the approach outlined by the Supreme Court in Harris. With respect to the objective component, the court, Judge Rovner writing, noted that our caselaw has held that isolated and innocuous incidents will not support a hostile environment claim. 2 As our Chief Judge wrote recently, Title VII is not directed against unpleasantness per se but only ... against discrimination in the conditions of employment. Carr v. Allison Gas Turbine Div., Gen. Motors Corp., 32 F.3d 1007, 1009 (7th Cir.1994). At the same time, we have cautioned that, in evaluating the situation, a court must be careful to evaluate the isolated incidents cumulatively in order to obtain a realistic view of the work environment. 3 With respect to the subjective element of the test, we emphasized that the statutory protection extends to the worker who has the dedication and fortitude to complete her assigned tasks even in the face of offensive and abusive sexual banter. Dey, 28 F.3d at 1454. Noting our agreement with our colleagues in the Federal Circuit, we held that the standard is not what a reasonable person might be capable of enduring but whether the offensive acts alter the conditions of employment. Id. at 1455 (citing King v. Hillen, 21 F.3d 1572, 1583 (Fed.Cir.1994)).C. Application to this Case
15 We turn first to the conduct alleged at the North Plant where the plaintiff worked under the supervision of Charles Stewart. In her complaint, the plaintiff alleged that Stewart made certain remarks and engaged in offensive touching of her person on two occasions. 4 Whether sexual harassment by a supervisor can be imputed to the employer corporation is governed by the principles of agency. Meritor, 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2408; see also Volk v. Coler, 845 F.2d 1422, 1436 (7th Cir.1988); North v. Madison Area Ass'n for Retarded Citizens-Developmental Ctrs. Corp., 844 F.2d 401, 407 (7th Cir.1988). 16 In the view of the district court, Stewart's conduct did not rise to the level of a violation of Title VII. Upon review of the caselaw of the circuit, it appears that the nature of the incidents alleged here, at least when viewed in isolation, is similar to the type that we have held not sufficient to support a cause of action under Title VII for sexual harassment. However, the summary judgment record before us suggests that the conduct persisted for a lengthy period of time and that, during that period, was a pervasive aspect of the plaintiff's employment. We therefore have serious reservations as to whether it was appropriate for the district court to hold as a matter of law that Stewart's conduct was not actionable. As in the case of racial harassment in the workplace, there is no magic number of incidents that give rise to a cause of action. See Rodgers v. Western-Southern Life Ins. Co., 12 F.3d 668, 674 (7th Cir.1993). As Justice O'Connor admonished in Harris, the matter is simply not susceptible to a mathematically precise test. 17 Even if the alleged activities of Mr. Stewart were sufficient to support a cause of action, we must conclude that the plaintiff could not maintain a cause of action based on Stewart's conduct because her complaint was not timely. The plaintiff filed her charge with the EEOC on January 4, 1993. The last of Stewart's alleged acts of harassment took place in December 1989. After that time, Ms. Doe had been transferred to the South Plant and her contact with Stewart ceased. In a deferral state, such as Indiana, a charge must be filed within 300 days of the occurrence of the act that is the basis of the complaint. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(e)(1); see Nazaire v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 807 F.2d 1372, 1379 (7th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1039, 107 S.Ct. 1979, 95 L.Ed.2d 819 (1987). 5 Nor do we believe that this problem can be avoided by resorting to the continuing violation doctrine. The continuing violation doctrine allows a plaintiff to get relief for a time-barred act by linking it with an act that is within the limitations period. For purposes of the limitations period, courts treat such a combination as one continuous act that ends within the limitations period. Selan v. Kiley, 969 F.2d 560, 564 (7th Cir.1992). In Selan, we outlined several viable continuing violation theories in continuing violation cases. Id. at 565. Only one is relevant in the factual situation that we have before us: We have recognized that a plaintiff may charge that the employer has, for a period of time, followed a practice of discrimination (here the toleration of sexual harassment of female employees), but has done so covertly rather than in an open and notorious way. There are several problems with the application of this approach to the situation facing us in this case. As we noted in Selan, the purpose of permitting a plaintiff to maintain a cause of action on the continuing violation theory is to permit the inclusion of acts whose character as discriminatory acts was not apparent at the time they occurred. Moskowitz v. Trustees of Purdue Univ., 5 F.3d 279, 282 (7th Cir.1993); see also Martin v. Nannie & Newborns, Inc., 3 F.3d 1410, 1415 n. 6 (10th Cir.1993) (noting that the continuing violation theory is premised on the equitable notion that the statute of limitations should not begin to run until a reasonable person would be aware that his rights have been violated). 18 Ms. Doe, under her own theory of the case, was aware of the nature of Stewart's conduct as it occurred. Further, she has not established that she was unaware that it was possible to seek redress for such conduct. Ms. Doe stated in her deposition that she was aware of the internal grievance procedure at Donnelley as early as May 1990, and that she chose not to file any complaints. (Tr. I at 157-68). Additionally, Ms. Doe admitted at deposition that Donnelley had posted a policy prohibiting sexual harassment and that she did not take advantage of the policy. (Tr. I at 270). See supra note 5. Moreover, to establish such a serial violation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's acts were related closely enough to constitute a continuing violation and not merely discrete, isolated, and completed acts which must be regarded as individual violations. Berry v. Board of Supervisors of L.S.U., 715 F.2d 971, 981 (5th Cir.1983); accord Moskowitz, 5 F.3d at 281 (7th Cir.1993). Here, we do not believe that the plaintiff has shown that there is a sufficiently close nexus between the conduct of Stewart at the North Plant and the later conduct of fellow employees at the South Plant to permit the characterization of a continuous violation. Most fundamentally, as we discuss in the following section of this opinion, because no harassment event occurring during the violation period was ever brought to the attention of Donnelley while Ms. Doe was still employed, there is no violation during the limitation period that can serve as the anchor for the earlier conduct. 6 See Purrington v. University of Utah, 996 F.2d 1025, 1028 (10th Cir.1993) (noting that in a continuing violation case, one of the acts must fall within the limitations period).
19 We now turn to the alleged sexual harassment during the appellant's tenure in the South Plant. Here, we are, of course, required to decide the case on the basis of the record and in light of the responsibilities of the respective parties on summary judgment. At the outset, we again must point out that, as the Supreme Court emphasized in Meritor, employers are not absolutely liable for workplace harassment. 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2408. Therefore, at least as a general proposition, an employer is not responsible for the conduct of co-workers. It would be unrealistic to expect management to be aware of every impropriety committed by every low-level employee. Carr, 32 F.3d at 1009. Rather, the employer is liable only if it knew, or should have known of the employees' acts and failed to take appropriate remedial action. Juarez v. Ameritech Mobile Communications, Inc., 957 F.2d 317, 320 (7th Cir.1992); accord Guess v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 913 F.2d 463, 465 (7th Cir.1990); Hunter v. Allis-Chalmers Corp., 797 F.2d 1417, 1421 (7th Cir.1986). Employer liability is based on the application of the common-law rules of agency. Meritor, 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2408. Knowledge of the agent is imputed to the corporate principal only if the agent receives the knowledge while acting within the scope of the agent's authority and when the knowledge concerns a matter within the scope of that authority. Juarez, 957 F.2d at 321. Moreover, the agent must have a duty to speak with respect to the specific item of knowledge. Id. 20 One of the incidents that did occur within the time period admittedly covered by the complaint was the placing of several heavy breathing messages on the appellant's voice mail by a co-worker. The company became aware of this incident when it was reported by Ms. Doe during a meeting with the plant's human resources supervisor to discuss the discipline imposed upon the plaintiff for tardiness. The record discloses that the company promptly investigated this complaint and disciplined the perpetrator. 21 The other incidents of sexual harassment by co-workers were not reported by the plaintiff to Donnelley. It appears that the company was given no formal notification of them until her complaint was filed with the district court. With respect to several of the instances, the plaintiff contends that management must have been aware of their occurrence. We have examined the record in detail and shall discuss those instances which raise even a suggestion that the defendant may have been constructively notified of the instance because it was witnessed by an employee in a supervisory capacity. 7 22 The plaintiff suggests that the repetitive attempts of co-worker Ron Brown to hug her were witnessed by a supervisor. Although the record is not explicit on the matter, it appears that the supervisor in question was the supervisor of the plaintiff, Brown or both of them. It is not at all clear, on the record before us, however, that the supervisor actually witnessed the conduct or, just as importantly, the frequency with which he witnessed the conduct. We do not have the evidence of that supervisor, only the plaintiff's opinion that he saw it. To the extent that this conduct continued after the Buethe incident, the plaintiff never reported the incident to management, even though she was aware of the company's policy against sexual harassment and of the company's willingness to take action. 8 Moreover, it is not at all clear on this record that the incident in question (the supervisor's toleration of Brown's attempt to hug the plaintiff) would, under the existing caselaw of this circuit, amount to sexual harassment. Although it is possible for sexual harassment to reach a level at which it can be presumed that the supervisor must have been aware that a hostile working environment existed, see Hall v. Gus Constr. Co., 842 F.2d 1010, 1014-15 (8th Cir.1988), our review of the record in this case makes it apparent that such a showing has not been made here. 23 The plaintiff also notes that her husband attempted to intervene on her behalf. Other than alleging that her husband had told her that the supervisors with whom he had spoken indicated that the matter was properly resolved between Ms. Doe and them, the plaintiff was unable to testify to the substance of the conversations. The deposition of the husband was never made a part of the record. Although Donnelley attempted to supplement the record on appeal to include this document, Ms. Doe, through her counsel, opposed that motion and the district court subsequently denied it. Under these circumstances, Ms. Doe cannot rely on the contents of this document at this point in the litigation.
24 Ms. Doe alleges serious incidents of sexual harassment. This case comes to us, however, on appeal from the grant of summary judgment, and we must evaluate the case on that basis. Like the district court, we can rule only on the basis of what is in the record before us--a record that was made by the parties in the district court. This case, like so many other cases that come before us on appeal from the grant of a summary judgment, brings with it a record that can be charitably characterized as undernourished. The standards established by the Supreme Court that we have set forth above have been repeated time and time again in our reported decisions, and we must expect that the parties will live up to the obligations imposed by those decisions by making an adequate record in the district court. Cases such as this one are won by attention to detail and completeness in the litigation of the summary judgment motion in the district court; they cannot be won in this court when the appropriate record has not been made. On this record, the district court had no choice but to grant Donnelley's motion for summary judgment. We, bound by that same record, also have no choice but to affirm the judgment.