Court Opinion

ID: 9883882
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:24:02.829461+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:32.631916
License: Public Domain

FORSBERG, Judge
(concurring specially):
I concur on the basis that Bersie failed to prove steps 3, 4, and 5 of the Henson test. (See majority opinion, p. 290.)
In steps 3 and 4 reference is made to the “harassment complained of.” At no time did Bersie complain to anyone, either formally or informally of the acts alleged to constitute sexual harassment. She did complain about virtually everything associated with her job, including difficulty getting along with female employees. Moreover, it is very unlikely that she would complain about these acts being sexual harassment when she, herself, testified that she was not mistreated because she is a female.
Moreover, in regard to step 5, the acts complained of were committed by co-employees. There may be a question as to Allenbaugh’s status. However, Bersie, herself, testified as follows:
Q: And [Allenbaugh] is a coemployee?
A: Yes.
Q: As is Mr. Gilson is Mr. Olson?
A: That is correct.
Q: Mr. Olson and Mr. Gilson and Mr. Allenbaugh were all co-employees, correct?
A: That is correct.
Q: None of them were supervisors or officers of the company?
A: That is correct.
In any event, Bersie did not prove Allen-baugh’s status as a supervisor; but even if true, he is without doubt not Bersie’s supervisor, and an unrelated supervisor is no different than a co-employee for purposes of making the employer aware of sexual acts. And certainly, acts of sexual harassment of co-employees cannot be attributed to the employer, and step 5 is so designed to prevent it. One can imagine on an assembly line the number of lawsuits a company would have to face if it was directly responsible for acts of co-employees toward each other.