Opinion ID: 673826
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Subjective viewpoint

Text: 25 We respectfully disagree with the district court's conclusion that Dey has failed to establish a subjectively hostile work environment as a matter of law. Although Dey indicated in her deposition that Chernoff's daily sexual banter did not prevent her from fulfilling her responsibilities in a timely fashion, she also stated that the conduct upset and embarrassed her, and made her feel uncomfortable. 9 Indeed, she maintained that on more than one occasion, Chernoff's comments caused her to walk out of his office. Although she tolerated the conduct for over two years because she feared for her job, Dey also indicated that she just wanted the comments to stop. Moreover, once a friend told Dey that there was some legal recourse available to her, Dey complained both to her immediate supervisor, who indicated that she was visibly upset at the time, and to Chernoff himself. Dey also determined to keep a log of any further incidents. These reactions are inconsistent with the district court's view of a woman who was unbothered by Chernoff's offensive banter to such an extent that she voluntarily associated herself with her alleged harasser. This evidence is at least sufficient to create a factual issue on the question of whether Dey subjectively perceived her work environment to be hostile and abusive. 26 In our view, the mention in Harris of an unreasonable interference with work performance was not intended to penalize the employee who possesses the dedication and fortitude to complete her assigned tasks even in the face of offensive and abusive sexual banter from one of her superiors. As Justice Scalia separately explained in Harris, the test under Title VII is not whether work has been impaired, but whether working conditions have been discriminatorily altered. --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 372 (Scalia, J., concurring). Adhering to that view, we have similarly emphasized that a plaintiff in Dey's position need not show that a campaign of harassment interfered with her work performance in order to establish a violation of Title VII. Saxton, 10 F.3d at 534 n. 14. As the Federal Circuit has aptly observed, the fact [t]hat women who are the objects of discriminatory behavior because of their sex are able to maintain satisfactory job performance is not grounds for denigrating their concerns. The criterion is not what a reasonable woman employee is capable of enduring, but whether the offensive acts alter the conditions of employment. King v. Hillen, 21 F.3d 1572, 1583 (Fed.Cir.1994) (emphasis added) (citation omitted). That test can certainly be met even where job performance is not tangibly affected. The absence of a noticeable decline in job productivity should therefore not be unduly emphasized where there is ample evidence showing that the campaign of harassment had an impact on its target and made it more difficult for her to do her job. See Harris, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 372 (Ginsburg, J., concurring); Steiner v. Showboat Operating Co., 25 F.3d 1459, 1462-63 (9th Cir.1994). 27 The district court also was swayed by what it characterized as the close relationship Dey maintained with Chernoff. The court's finding was based on the fact that Dey considered buying Chernoff's automobile, that she once asked him for legal advice and permitted him to review a contract for her on another occasion, and that she asked him for help when her friend's wife unexpectedly appeared at the office. But in our view, the court's finding reflects a view of the evidence that is favorable to Colt, and not to Dey. 28 Viewing the evidence in Dey's favor, it is certainly conceivable that a woman in her position would ask the only lawyer in an office of fewer than ten employees for legal advice even if she knew and had retained other lawyers. That situation seems to us no different from seeking a second opinion on a financial matter if there happens to be an accountant who works in the office. Nor does the fact that Dey was at one point interested in purchasing Chernoff's automobile necessarily undermine her position. A reasonable fact-finder would not necessarily expect Dey to completely disassociate herself from Chernoff, particularly in light of the fact that he was second in command to Irsay in an office with only three executives. Turning her back and having nothing further to do with Chernoff was, in all likelihood, not an option if Dey wished to keep her job, regardless of how offensive she may have found his behavior. Dey's job instead required that she work with Chernoff on occasional projects and have almost daily contact with him. Cf. King, 21 F.3d at 1583. 10 The incidents relied on by the district court, when viewed in the light most favorable to Dey, simply do not establish that Dey sought to maintain a close personal relationship with Chernoff. 11 They do not necessarily contradict her assertions that Chernoff's conduct consistently upset and embarrassed her and ultimately caused her to attempt to avoid him in the office after April 1985. For these reasons, we think a reasonable fact-finder could determine that Dey subjectively perceived the Colt environment to be hostile and abusive.