Opinion ID: 787947
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Claims of Gender Discrimination

Text: 37 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states: It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's ... sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). 11 The purpose of this provision is to prevent disparate treatment of men and women in employment. Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 64, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted). Petrosino asserts that she was the victim of three forms of sex discrimination: (1) she was subjected to a hostile work environment amounting to sexual harassment, (2) she was denied promotion opportunities, and (3) she was constructively discharged. We examine each of these claims in turn.
38 In Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, the Supreme Court made plain that Title VII's prohibition of sex discrimination extends to sexual harassment. 477 U.S. at 63-68, 106 S.Ct. 2399. [S]exual harassment includes `conduct [that] has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.' Fitzgerald v. Henderson, 251 F.3d 345, 356 (2d Cir.2001) (quoting 29 C.F.R. § 1604.11(a)). To prevail on a claim of sexual harassment based on a hostile work environment, a plaintiff must establish two elements: `(1) that the workplace was permeated with discriminatory intimidation that was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of [his or] her work environment, and (2) that a specific basis exists for imputing the conduct that created the hostile environment to the employer.' Mack v. Otis Elevator Co., 326 F.3d at 122 (quoting Richardson v. N.Y. State Dep't of Corr. Serv., 180 F.3d 426, 436 (2d Cir.1999)).
39 The first element of a hostile work environment claim has both an objective and subjective component: the misconduct must be severe or pervasive enough to create an objectively hostile or abusive work environment, and the victim must also subjectively perceive that environment to be abusive. Terry v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 128, 148 (2d Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). In this case, Bell Atlantic does not contest that Petrosino subjectively experienced her work environment as hostile. Thus, we focus on whether Petrosino's work environment could objectively be deemed hostile to women. 40 The district court concluded that no jury could reasonably find Petrosino's work environment objectively hostile to women. In so ruling, it decided, first, that evidence of incessant sexually offensive exchanges at the daily assignment meeting and omnipresent sexual graffiti in the terminal boxes could not support Petrosino's claim, because this conduct, while undeniably boorish and offensive, was not motivated by hostility toward Petrosino because of her sex. Petrosino v. Bell Atlantic, 2003 WL 1622885, at -. Rather, it applied equally to all employees, male and female. Second, the district court concluded that the remaining alleged incidents of harassment, even when viewed as a whole, were insufficiently severe or pervasive to establish a sexually discriminatory hostile work environment. See id. at . We disagree. 41
42 Title VII prohibits  discriminat[ion] ... because of ... sex. Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75, 79-80, 118 S.Ct. 998, 140 L.Ed.2d 201 (1998) (emphasis in original). Thus, a work environment which is equally harsh for both men and women cannot support a claim for sex discrimination. Brennan v. Metropolitan Opera Ass'n, 192 F.3d 310, 318 (2d Cir.1999); accord Brown v. Henderson, 257 F.3d at 253. The mere fact that men and women are both exposed to the same offensive circumstances on the job site, however, does not mean that, as a matter of law, their work conditions are necessarily equally harsh. The objective hostility of a work environment depends on the totality of the circumstances. See Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 23, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993); Terry v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d at 148. Further, the perspective from which the evidence must be assessed is that of a reasonable person in the plaintiff's position, considering all the circumstances [including] the social context in which particular behavior occurs and is experienced by its target. Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. at 81 (internal quotation marks omitted). 43 There is some ambiguity in our case law as to whether, in a case such as this, a reasonable person in the plaintiff's position must be a woman or a person drawn from the public at large. Compare Torres v. Pisano, 116 F.3d 625, 632 & n. 6 (2d Cir.1997) (assessing challenged conduct from perspective of a reasonable woman), with Richardson v. N.Y. State Dep't of Corr. Serv., 180 F.3d at 436 n. 3 (rejecting view that reasonable person is limited to members of the plaintiff's protected class). 12 In fact, we need not choose between these two options because we conclude that the evidence in this case, viewed in the light most favorable to Petrosino, would permit a jury to conclude that a reasonable person, regardless of gender, would consider the sexually offensive comments and graffiti here at issue more offensive to women than to men and, therefore, discriminatory based on sex. 44 The comments and graphics that permeated Petrosino's work environment may have sexually ridiculed both men and women, but there is an important, though not surprising, distinction. The conduct at issue sexually ridiculed some men, but it also frequently touted the sexual exploits of others. In short, the insults were directed at certain men, not men as a group. By contrast, the depiction of women in the offensive jokes and graphics was uniformly sexually demeaning and communicated the message that women as a group were available for sexual exploitation by men. Such workplace disparagement of women, repeated day after day over the course of several years without supervisory intervention, stands as a serious impediment to any woman's efforts to deal professionally with her male colleagues. 45 The fact that much of this offensive material was not directed specifically at Petrosino — indeed, her male co-workers would likely have traded sexual insults every morning and defaced terminal boxes with sexual graffiti regardless of Petrosino's presence in the I & R department — does not, as a matter of law, preclude a jury from finding that the conduct subjected Petrosino to a hostile work environment based on her sex. Indeed, the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, recently reached this same conclusion in a case involving a work environment strikingly similar to that alleged by Petrosino: an all-male production shop (except for the female plaintiff) suffused with sex-laden and sexist talk and conduct. Ocheltree v. Scollon Prods., Inc., 335 F.3d 325, 332 (4th Cir.2003) ( en banc ), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 1406, 158 L.Ed.2d 77 and ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 1411, 158 L.Ed.2d 77 (2004). The employer contended that the offensive conduct could not be deemed discriminatory based on sex because it could have been heard [or seen] by anyone present in the shop and was equally offensive to some of the men. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The court disagreed, concluding that a jury could find [m]uch of the conduct ... particularly offensive to women and ... intended to provoke [plaintiff's] reaction as a woman. Id. Judge Michael, the author of the en banc decision, had convincingly made this same point in his earlier panel dissent by employing a powerful hypothetical: 46 Suppose, for example, that an African-American plaintiff brings a race discrimination claim alleging a hostile work environment due to his coworkers' daily use of the meanest racial slur against African-Americans. Suppose further that the workplace had previously been all white and that the pattern of racial slurs was the same both before and after the plaintiff's arrival. The majority's reasoning suggests that if the employer could show that none of the racial slurs were directed at the plaintiff and that he would have been exposed to exactly the same language if he had been white, the harassment in this example could not be because of race. Yet I find it difficult to believe that any court would fail to find race-based harassment in these facts. If the right to be free from a racially hostile work environment means anything at all, surely it includes the right to be free from a workplace permeated by racial slurs. 47 Ocheltree v. Scollon Prods., Inc., 308 F.3d 351, 376 (4th Cir.2002) (Michael, J., dissenting in part and concurring in the judgment in part), rev'd en banc, 335 F.3d 325. We note that this analysis parallels that of Judge Newman who, writing separately in Brennan v. Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc., observed that [d]isplays of photos of Blacks being lynched or of nude women in sexually provocative poses would not be insulated from Title VII claims simply because the photos were observable by all office employees, White and Black, male and female. 192 F.3d at 320 (Newman, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). The majority in Brennan found it unnecessary to reach this common-exposure issue to resolve that particular case, see id. at 319, but we now adopt Judge Newman's reasoning and that of the Fourth Circuit in rejecting Bell Atlantic's argument that the common exposure of male and female workers to sexually offensive material necessarily precludes a woman from relying on such evidence to establish a hostile work environment based on sex. See also Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc., 760 F.Supp. 1486, 1522-23 (M.D.Fla.1991) (holding that sexually provocative pictures of nude and partially nude women, which were put up before any female employees joined the workplace, had a disproportionately demeaning impact on female employees and, as such, convey[ed] the message that [women] do not belong). 48 In sum, although all Bell Atlantic employees at the Edgewater Garage were routinely exposed to sexually offensive language and graphics, we conclude that a reasonable jury could find this conduct more demeaning of women than men and, therefore, the evidence should not have been excluded from an assessment of the totality of circumstances in considering Bell Atlantic's motion for summary judgment. 49
50 In reviewing the totality of the evidence adduced by Petrosino in support of her hostile work environment claim, we are mindful that Title VII does not establish a general civility code for the American workplace. Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. at 81, 118 S.Ct. 998. Simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents of offensive conduct (unless extremely serious) will not support a claim of discriminatory harassment. See id.; Holtz v. Rockefeller & Co., 258 F.3d 62, 75 (2d Cir.2001). To defeat Bell Atlantic's motion for summary judgment, Petrosino must adduce evidence sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to conclude that her workplace was permeated with `discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult,' that [was] `sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of [her] employment.' Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. at 21, 114 S.Ct. 367 (quoting Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. at 65, 67, 106 S.Ct. 2399); accord Cruz v. Coach Stores, Inc., 202 F.3d 560, 570 (2d Cir.2000). 51 As we have already observed, a reasonable jury could conclude that the persistent sexually offensive remarks at the Edgewater Garage and the graffiti at outdoor work sites were particularly insulting to women because these actions cast women in a demeaning role: as objects of sex-based ridicule and subjects for sexual exploitation. It is within this context that the remaining evidence of sexual harassment must be considered. In this light, Petrosino's sexual assault by a drunken co-worker within a few months of joining the I & R department might well be viewed by a reasonable jury not simply as an isolated incident but as a tangible extension of the pervasive demeaning talk to Petrosino personally. The assault communicated to Petrosino that she was perceived, at least by one co-worker, not as a professional colleague, but as one more woman available for sexual exploitation. The fact that for some time thereafter Petrosino's male co-workers treated the assault as a subject for office jokes and graffiti only reinforced this perception. 13 Similarly, the men's sarcastic apologies when Petrosino attempted to limit their sexually offensive exchanges supports an inference that they were deliberately attempting to provoke [her] reaction as a woman. Ocheltree v. Scollon Prods., Inc., 335 F.3d at 332. Further, the link the men — including supervisors — routinely drew between their perceptions of Petrosino's professional defects and her anatomy, especially their vulgar references to her breasts and menstrual cycle, likewise communicated that her gender would always stand as a bar to full acceptance within the workplace. Indeed, Petrosino's work concerns were routinely dismissed in gender-based terms: she, like all women, was simply too thin-skinned and sensitive to work successfully in I & R. 52 We thus conclude that Bell Atlantic cannot demonstrate from the totality of this evidence that, as a matter of law, no reasonable jury could conclude that the gender-hostile atmosphere at the Edgewater Garage was insufficiently severe and pervasive to support Petrosino's claim of harassment and, therefore, discrimination, based on sex. To the extent the district court concluded otherwise, we reverse. 53
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.
59 Petrosino complains that throughout her employment with Bell Atlantic she was also unfairly denied promotion based on her sex. As we have already explained, because promotion denials are viewed as discrete acts of discrimination, Petrosino may only sue for events occurring after June 17, 1998. Petrosino's unsuccessful attempts to secure promotion before that date may only be considered as relevant background to the extent Petrosino establishes timely claims. 60 To establish a prima facie case of a discriminatory failure to promote, a Title VII plaintiff must ordinarily demonstrate that: (1) she is a member of a protected class; (2) she `applied and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants'; (3) she was rejected for the position; and (4) the position remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants having the plaintiff's qualifications. Brown v. Coach Stores, Inc., 163 F.3d 706, 709 (2d Cir.1998) (quoting McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973)). In awarding summary judgment to Bell Atlantic, the district court concluded that Petrosino had failed to satisfy the second element of a prima facie case: she did not identify any position within the limitations period for which she had filed a formal application and was rejected. Petrosino v. Bell Atlantic, 2003 WL 1622885, at . On appeal, Petrosino challenges this conclusion, submitting that, under the informal promotion process in effect at the Edgewater Garage, she adequately applied for management positions by telling her managers that she wanted to be a manager. Appellant's Br. at 45. 61 Petrosino's argument is foreclosed by our decision in Brown v. Coach Stores, Inc., 163 F.3d at 710, which emphasizes that the second element of a prima facie case cannot be established merely with evidence that a plaintiff generally requested promotion consideration. A specific application is required to ensure[ ] that, at the very least, the plaintiff employee alleges a particular adverse employment action, an instance of alleged discrimination, by the employer. Id. Further, the requirement ensures that the fact finder is not left to speculate as to the qualifications of the competing candidates, the damages to be derived from the salary of unknown jobs, the availability of alternative positions, the plaintiff's willingness to serve in them (e.g., in other locales or on other shifts), etc. The requirement also protects employers from the unfair burden of having to keep track of all employees who have generally expressed an interest in promotion and [to] consider each of them for any opening for which they are qualified but did not specifically apply. Id. Certainly, the rule is not inflexible. The law recognizes that the facts of a particular case may sometimes make a specific application a quixotic requirement. Id. But the exception is narrow and does not pertain simply because an employee asserts that an aura of discrimination in the workplace somehow discouraged her from filing a formal application. Id. Rather, to be excused from the specific application requirement, an employee must demonstrate that (1) the vacancy at issue was not posted, and (2) the employee either had (a) no knowledge of the vacancy before it was filled or (b) attempted to apply for it through informal procedures endorsed by the employer. See id. at 710 n. 2. 62 As already noted, the managerial jobs available to Petrosino fit into three categories: official manager, permanent acting manager, and temporary acting manager. There is considerable factual dispute between the parties about how Bell Atlantic employees learned of managerial vacancies and how supervisors filled these positions, even after implementation of the company's departmental interview system. Because we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to Petrosino, we assume that many employees, Petrosino included, could not reasonably have known about all available positions through the company's posting policy; that employees often applied for jobs, at least in the first instance, by speaking informally with supervisors; and that Bell Atlantic managers often groomed favored candidates for specific managerial positions. While these facts may satisfy the first prong of the specific application exception, they do not satisfy the second because they do not excuse Petrosino's failure to apply, at least informally, for the specific management positions that she knew were vacant in her department. See id. 63 Focusing first on official manager positions, Petrosino notes that three employees who had served as permanent acting managers (William DeLeon, Richard Mancino, and Louis Lugiero) were named official managers for these same positions in early 1999. Precisely because these positions had been held for some time by persons serving in an acting manager capacity, Petrosino cannot claim that she was unaware of the corresponding official manager vacancies. 14 The only thing she did not know was exactly when Bell Atlantic would make an official appointment. Thus, posting failures may have excused her from filing a timely formal application for these official manager vacancies, but that would not excuse her from informally applying for the positions by telling her supervisors that she wished to be considered for these three official manager openings when Bell Atlantic decided to fill them. Not only has Petrosino failed to adduce any evidence of informal applications for these specific official positions, the evidence she has produced indicates that her informal discussions with supervisors about promotions during the limitations period all pertained to acting manager appointments: 64 Q: You asked Mike Russo, you told him you wanted a permanent management position as soon as possible, correct? 65 A: No. I wanted to act. I didn't say permanent. I wanted an acting position. I wanted to act. That was my request. 66