Court Opinion

ID: 9494996
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:52:01.302185+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:45.309299
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Although I agree with the majority’s well-reasoned opinion in Parts II A, B, C.l and C.2, the evidence shows a dispute in material fact regarding Jacob-Mua’s Title VII claim for hostile work environment harassment by non-supervisory co-workers. Such disputes must be resolved by a fact-finder. The record shows Jacob-Mua was singled out and treated in an unlawful manner among her colleagues because of her race. She presents credible evidence that the conduct was severe, pervasive, and related to her protected status, and that such conduct *524significantly altered the conditions of her employment. Furthermore, the evidence in the record would allow a reasonable juror to conclude that her supervisors knew or should have known that Jacob-Mua was subjected to unlawful harassment that required prompt remedial action.
Because the majority determined that Jacob-Mua failed to allege a procedurally-sound supervisory hostile work environment claim, it focused solely on her coworkers’ conduct. The court then concluded that Jacob-Mua did not present evidence that her supervisors were aware of the mistreatment she allegedly suffered at the hands of her co-workers. In coming to this conclusion it failed to view the facts in the light most favorable to Jacob-Mua.
The record shows that supervisors Riet-veld and Bratton may have condoned coworker Irwin’s unlawful harassment of Jacob-Mua. When Jacob-Mua wore traditional African clothing, Irwin and Rietveld ridiculed her style of dress. When civil rights director Clarence Adair spoke to the members of the Agroforestry Center about racial discrimination in response to “the tensions that were building,” Irwin and Rietveld publicly said the meeting was a waste of time and questioned why they were there. In addition, when Irwin threatened Jacob-Mua’s physical safety, she reported his abusive behavior to Brat-ton, who informed her he was going to “let [the incident] slide” without further investigation. It is ludicrous to believe that Jacob-Mua’s complaints of racial discrimination would have been handled properly by the very men who participated in the alleged unlawful behavior.
Furthermore, the record shows that the working environment at the Agroforestry Center was casual and informal. People worked with their office doors open, the majority of the employees socialized in the coffee room during their breaks, and conversations in the hallways and offices seem to have been commonplace. Irwin’s and Isaacson’s racially harassing behavior could not have gone undetected easily. Their conduct, combined with evidence that supervisors Bratton and Rietveld repeatedly failed to come to Jacob-Mua’s defense when she was mistreated by her co-workers, would allow a jury to infer that her supervisors knew or should have known of the alleged racial harassment, requiring immediate remedial action to correct the hostile work environment at the Agroforestry Center. I would therefore reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment on this matter and allow Jacob-Mua’s hostile work environment claim to proceed to trial.