Opinion ID: 2995967
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Schobert’s Sex Discrimination Claim

Text: Schobert claims that he offered enough evidence to prove discrimination by showing that the one woman employed at his worksite received advantages he and the other male employees did not. The evidence he presented does not bear out that claim. Schobert’s argument was either that Roth was sexually harassed and as a third-party he too suffered from that harassment, or (more likely) that Roth had a conNo. 01-1598 13 sensual relationship with a supervisor, who then granted her preferential treatment. Schobert’s first argument was rejected by the Fifth Circuit in Ellert v. Univ. of Texas, 52 F.3d 543, 546 (5th Cir. 1995). There the court held that a plaintiff could not maintain an action for sexual harassment where she was not actually subject to any harassing conduct even if she felt discriminated against as a result of harassment suffered by a fellow employee. We agree with the Fifth Circuit and find that unless Schobert offered evidence that he too directly endured the same kind of harassment, which he has not, he does not have a claim of sex discrimination. His alternate argument, which is the one we understand him to be stressing, is more akin to the employer’s favoring the “paramour” over the other employees. Title VII does not, however, prevent employers from favoring employees because of personal relationships. Whether the employer grants employment perks to an employee because she is a protegé, an old friend, a close relative or a love interest, that special treatment is permissible as long as it is not based on an impermissible classification. See DeCintio v. Westchester County Medical Center, 807 F.2d 304, 306 (2d Cir. 1986) (rejecting the argument that male plaintiffs are discriminated against if a supervisor prefers his female love interest). From a practical standpoint, there is every reason for an employer to discourage this kind of intra-office romance, as it is often bad for morale, but that is different from saying it violates Title VII. Had there been other women in the sign shop, they would have suffered in exactly the same way Schobert was allegedly suffering, which also shows why this is not really a sex discrimination problem.