Court Opinion

ID: 9483424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:20:15.240765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:37.538059
License: Public Domain

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the reasoning as well as the result. My purpose in concurring separately is to flag an undecided issue, so that readers do not infer a principle of law from our per curiam opinion upon which we have not decided.
We have unanimously affirmed, because Candelore did not establish a factual predicate for the alleged discrimination against her. She “has never identified employment opportunities or benefits that were extended to less qualified female co-workers who responded to sexual overtures from work supervisors.” Suppose Candelore had provided cognizable evidence that a coworker received benefits Candelore did not because the coworker had an affair with a supervi*592sor. Would she then have a good sex discrimination claim? We have not had occasion, in this case, to decide that question one way or the other.
The Second Circuit decided that, where disparate treatment was based on a romantic relationship rather than gender, it did not amount to sex discrimination under Title VII. DeCintio v. Westchester County Medical Center, 807 F.2d 304 (2d Cir.1986), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 825, 108 S.Ct. 89, 98 L.Ed.2d 50 (1987). The Second Circuit read “submission” in 29 C.F.R. § 1604.11(g) to involve “lack of consent” and an “element of coercion.” Id. at 307-08. Candelore’s claim, that Title VII applies to discrimination on account of another employee’s consensual romantic relationship, might represent a “significant expansion” of Title VII coverage. Cf. King v. Palmer, 778 F.2d 878, 883 (D.C.Cir.1986) (order denying en banc rehearing). Our decision should not be read as conflicting with the Second Circuit decision, or establishing any doctrine on whether discrimination on account of a coworker’s consensual romantic relationship with a supervisor violates Title VII, because we have not reached the legal issue.