Court Opinion

ID: 9493335
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:05:34.113497+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:00.011297
License: Public Domain

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge,
concurring specially in affirmance of grant of summary judgment on hostile work environment claim.
I concur separately in the decision to affirm judgment against Hocevar on her hostile environment claim. I do not concur in Judge Beam’s opinion, because I believe it engages in fact finding, see supra at 725-26, and an unnecessary semantic dissection of the language in question. I recognize that our decision in Kriss v. Sprint Communications Co., 58 F.3d 1276, 1281 (8th Cir.1995), stated that “the word ‘bitch’ ... is not an indication of a general misogynist attitude,” but I do not read Kriss as establishing a test as to whether this word is inherently of a sexually harassing nature. It is beyond question that the repetitive use of the word in this case was demeaning to females, and the disci*740pline which Purdue Frederick imposed on Amundsen, who used the word, shows that the company recognized the utterance was improper.
Even unquestionably offensive words do not necessarily make a hostile work environment, without considering the context. See Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75, 80, 118 S.Ct. 998, 140 L.Ed.2d 201 (1998) (use of words having sexual content or connotations not necessarily discrimination because of sex). I have examined the whole record and conclude that the facts taken in the light most favorable to Hocevar do not add up to a hostile work environment case.
At the outset, it is necessary to focus on the key facts. I believe that the only conduct on the record that might be substantial enough to alter a term, condition, or privilege of employment, see Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21-22, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993), is Amundsen’s use of sexual vulgarities. The other allegations about Amundsen’s conduct, such as his involvement in a bar fight and his statements to employees at sales meetings that if sales did not improve, he was “going to kill you” or “kill your dog,” do not appear to be gender-related. See Oncale, 523 U.S. at 80, 118 S.Ct. 998 (to be actionable, harassment must be discrimination because of sex). Hocevar’s complaints about people other than Amundsen are based on incidents that were simply too few and far between to make a hostile environment.
Hocevar alleges that Amundsen chronically used foul language, specifically the words “fuck” and “bitch.” In a letter dated December 20, 1995, Hocevar’s counsel notified Purdue Frederick that Amundsen had engaged in ongoing sexual harassment against Hocevar. In January 1996 Purdue Frederick investigated the complaint. The investigation revealed that the members of the Viking District interviewed had “all participated in the use of profanity and, from time to time, off-color jokes. And the general consensus was that they carried it too far.” In particular, the investigator concluded that Hocevar herself had participated in the profanity and improper jokes. Hocevar admitted at her deposition in this case that she used the same offensive language around Amundsen and other sales representatives. A Purdue personnel representative traveled to the Viking District in February to inform the employees there that the firm expected a high level of professionalism and that the investigation revealed that “perhaps there had been some deterioration in that professional standard” with the use of profanity and jokes. Amundsen was put on a three-month leave and required to undergo counseling and training. This discipline resulted in an improvement in Amundsen’s language, as well as that of the other employees.
Hocevar complains most specifically of an incident in September 1994, at Dr. Ku-bics’s office, in which Amundsen became enraged at being treated disrespectfully by a female doctor. Amundsen repeatedly referred to the doctor as a “fat fucking bitch,” and talked about how he would like to “slam her one” and make her fear him.
In deciding when inappropriate conduct rises to the level of a hostile environment that changes a term or condition of employment, courts must look at all the circumstances. “These may include the frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance.” Harris, 510 U.S. at 23, 114 S.Ct. 367 (emphasis added). In this regard, it is important that the conduct complained of consists only of “offensive utterances” of a type Hocevar herself engaged in at work, and that to the extent the gender-based utterances were threatening or abusive, they were not aimed at Hocevar, but at the female doctor, who was not a Purdue employee.
*741“We have considered harassment of employees other than the plaintiff to be relevant to show pervasiveness of the hostile environment.” Howard v. Burns Bros., Inc., 149 F.3d 835, 838 (8th Cir.1998) (emphasis added). However, in the cases in our circuit where we have considered conduct directed at others in upholding sexual harassment claims, that conduct augmented evidence of harassment directed at the plaintiff, see, e.g., id. (evidence of harassment of others augmented evidence of physical contact of plaintiff and chronic innuendos); Hall v. Gus Const. Co., 842 F.2d 1010, 1015 (8th Cir.1988) (each plaintiff endured abuse). Abuse directed at a third party is part of the picture, but it is less significant than abuse directed at the plaintiff. See Gleason v. Mesirow Fin., Inc., 118 F.3d 1134, 1144-45 (7th Cir.1997) (“Second hand harassment” not as great an invasion as harassment directed at plaintiff); Black v. Zaring Homes, Inc., 104 F.3d 822, 826 (6th Cir.1997) (fact that most comments not directed at plaintiff contributes to conclusion of insufficiency of evidence). But see Leibovitz v. New York City Transit Auth., 4 F .Supp.2d 144, 150-53 (E.D.N.Y.1998) (upholding hostile environment verdict based entirely on harassment of others). Here, the conduct was directed at someone who was not a Purdue Frederick employee, and who was not even present to hear the hostile remarks. Therefore, even considering the evidence of Amundsen’s reaction to the female doctor, Hocevar did not start out with a strong case. The standards for establishing a hostile environment are set high so that Title VII “does not become a ‘general civility code.’ ” Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 788, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998) (quoting Oncale, 523 U.S. at 80, 118 S.Ct. 998).
But Hoeevar’s claim truly struck the shoals when she admitted she used the sort of language she now complains of. In Scusa v. Nestle U.S.A. Co., 181 F.3d 958, 967 (8th Cir.1999), we held that a plaintiff could not show others’ workplace conduct was subjectively offensive when she did the same thing herself. “Appellant’s evidence of a hostile work environment falls flat in light of the fact that she engaged in the very type of conduct about which she now complains.... ” Id. at 967. Accord Gleason, 118 F.3d at 1146.
For these reasons, I concur in affirming the summary judgment entered against Hocevar on her hostile environment claim.