Opinion ID: 4306829
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT BASED ON AGE or SEX

Text: To establish a prima facie hostile-work-environment claim under the ADEA or Title VII, Millen must show 1) she is 40 years or older or a member of a protected group, 2) she was subjected to harassment, either through words or actions, 3) the harassment had the effect of unreasonably interfering with her work performance and creating an objectively intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment, and 4) there exists some liability on the part of Oxford. See Hale v. ABF Freight Sys., 503 F. App’x 323, 337 (6th Cir. 2012) (applying ADEA and citing Crawford v. Medina Gen. Hosp., 96 F.3d 830, 834–35 (6th Cir. 1996)); Barrett v. Whirlpool Corp., 556 F.3d 502, 515 (6th Cir. 2009) (applying Title VII). Under Michigan law, a plaintiff establishes a prima facie case of hostile-work-environment based on age or sex harassment by showing that 1) she belonged to a protected group, 2) she was subjected to communication or conduct on the basis of age or sex, 3) she was subjected to unwelcome conduct or communication on the basis of age or sex, 4) the unwelcome conduct or communication was intended to, or in fact did, interfere substantially with her employment or created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment, and 5) respondeat superior. Downey v. Charlevoix Cty. Bd. of Road Comm’rs, 576 N.W.2d 712, 716 (Mich. Ct. App. 1998). Millen presented no evidence that Oxford harassed her based on her age or sex.6 She testified that no one at Oxford ever mentioned her age or sex or exhibited inappropriate conduct 6 We do not address Millen’s claim that Oxford either terminated or prodded to retire at least eleven employees between the ages of 50 and 60 since 2009 beyond noting that although Millen named the eleven employees at deposition, and testified that upper management “bullied” those employees, she could not provide a single example. -11- No. 17-2423 Millen v. Oxford Bank toward her. We thus affirm the district court’s dismissal of Millen’s hostile-work-environment age and sex claims.