Opinion ID: 3033618
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Quantitative comparison of treatment

Text: The defendants argue that because Harvey had more regular contact with female than with male employees the differential effect on women was merely incidental. For example, Cloutier testified that the “men working in that office left lots of times to go to school buildings, to fly out of state. It was only the women that stayed there, and it was the women who felt most vulnerable.” [9] At least two other circuits have held, as we now do, that an unbalanced distribution of men and women in relevant employment positions, and the fact that some men were also harassed, does not automatically defeat a showing of differential treatment. See Kopp v. Samaritan Health Sys., Inc., 13 F.3d 264, 269 (8th Cir. 1993) (“[T]he incidents of abuse Kopp has cited in the record involve primarily women. . . . [A]pproximately ten involved female employees; only four involved male employees.”); Haugerud v. Amery School 12114 CHRISTOPHER v. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOC. Dist., 259 F.3d 678, 695 (7th Cir. 2001) (reversing summary judgment on hostile work environment claim despite fact that “[d]etermining whether plaintiff was treated differently because of her sex, as opposed to some other reason . . . is admittedly complicated by the fact that she is the only day custodian at the high school”). To hold otherwise would allow the accident of a mostly female workplace to insulate even a culpable employer from liability. The precise determination of how much qualitative and quantitative difference in treatment is enough circumstantial evidence to support a Title VII claim is a question for the jury. We leave open the possibility that in some cases, the quantitative comparison between male and female employees as classes will reveal differences too slight to survive summary judgment. In this case, however, summary judgment was not appropriate. Sufficiently Severe The facts already recited present a triable issue whether the work environment Harvey created was sufficiently severe to be illegal under Title VII. The rule is that “the required showing of severity or seriousness of the harassing conduct varies inversely with the pervasiveness or frequency of the conduct.” Ellison v. Brady, 924 F.2d at 878. Where the conduct in question was allegedly a “daily thing,” there can be little question that a reasonable juror might infer that Harvey’s pattern of verbal and physical intimidation, as confirmed by a wide range of employees, was sufficiently severe to satisfy the statute. Summary Judgment for the NEA NEA national argues that its summary judgment should be affirmed, even if judgment for NEA-Alaska is reversed. NEA argues that it is not a proper party in this action because it was not named in the original EEOC charges. However, failure to name the party in the original charges is not dispositive. The law of this circuit is that CHRISTOPHER v. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOC. 12115 Title VII charges can be brought against persons not named in an E.E.O.C. complaint as long as they were involved in the acts giving rise to the E.E.O.C. claims. Further, where the EEOC or defendants themselves “should have anticipated” that the claimant would name those defendants in a Title VII suit, the court has jurisdiction over those defendants even though they were not named in the EEOC charge. Sosa v. Hiraoka, 920 F.2d 1451, 1458-59 (9th Cir. 1990) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Ortez v. Washington County, 88 F.3d 804, 808 (9th Cir. 1996). Moreover, in general, “[t]he jurisdictional scope of a Title VII claimant’s court action depends upon the scope of both the EEOC charge and the EEOC investigation.” Sosa v. Hiraoka, 920 F.2d at 1456. NEA further argues that it “cannot in any event be held responsible under Title VII for the alleged harassment” because it did not exercise sufficient authority and control over Harvey’s conduct or the conditions of his employment. These are fact-intensive questions that have not been addressed by the district court and as to which the record has not been fully developed. Accordingly, both the jursidictional and the liability questions regarding the NEA should be addressed on remand.