Court Opinion

ID: 6955567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-24 01:37:05.378153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:08:14.454733
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I participated in this en banc rehearing as a member of the panel that originally heard Jansen (with Judges Coffey and Flaum). Hence, my participation is limited to that case.
I join Judge Flaum’s concurring opinion, and I write primarily to elaborate on what constitutes an appropriately “heightened” duty of care for employers whose supervisors engage in hostile environment harassment. For, as Judge Flaum indicates, there are good reasons for a heightened standard for supervisor misconduct in contrast to the same misconduct by fellow employees.
It may be that Judge Wood’s analysis converges with Judge Flaum’s on the bottom line. Judge Wood mentions circumstances in which supervisors may exceed the scope of their employment and therefore act without delegated authority. See Wood, pp. 574-575. In his negligence analysis Judge Flaum calls for a heightened standard of employer care. See Flaum, p. 502; see also Posner, pp. 511-512. I doubt that the result in Jansen, for example, would differ under one or the other of these approaches. Nevertheless, it is necessary to distinguish quid pro quo from hostile environment claims. The Supreme Court distinguished them in Mentor with an implication, at least, that they might better be treated differently. Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 72, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2408, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). Justice Marshall, concurring in the judgment in Meritor, read the majority opinion this way and objected to “a special rule, to be applied only in ‘hostile environment’ cases.” Id. at 77, 106 S.Ct. at 2410 (Marshall, J., concurring in the result). But the opposite view seemingly prevailed, and we must take our guidance from that fact. The other circuits have taken this lead. See, e.g., Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 111 F.3d 1530 (11th Cir.1997) (en banc); Nichols v. Frank, 42 F.3d 503 (9th Cir.1994); Bouton v. BMW of N. Am., Inc., 29 F.3d 103 (3d Cir.1994); Kauffman v. Allied Signal, Inc., Autolite Div., 970 F.2d 178 (6th Cir.1992); but cf., Karibian v. Columbia Univ., 14 F.3d 773 (2d Cir.1994).
That the Supreme Court distinguished the two kinds of harassment claims makes sense. In a quid pro quo situation, a supervisor acts with actual or apparent authority when he promises employment goodies or threatens their withdrawal to extract sexual “cooperation.” Quid pro quo is always a creature of power. It is the classic paradigm of powerful males forcing their wills on vulnerable females. A hostile environment, on the other hand, can be created by persons of equal, or even inferior, status to the victim. Supervisory rank may facilitate it, and power may enhance it, but neither is essential, or even central, to the creation of a hostile environment.
In Jansen, the supervisor Antoni allegedly created a hostile environment. Power is not of the essence there, as it certainly is for quid pro quo harassment. One can imagine a lesser figure doing almost the same thing as Antoni. But his rank in the company was of considerable help to him in creating a milieu of abuse. It is not easy to articulate exactly how a supervisor’s abusive conversation and posturing implicates his authority. Still, the intuition remains that the delegated power certainly helps — just as it helped An-toni. Just as it is the centrality of power and authority that dictates strict liability for quid pro quo harassment, it is the shadow of power and authority that dictates a heightened negligence standard for supervisory hostile environment harassment.
The negligence standard used to govern hostile or abusive environment claims involving a supervisor must be negligence as related to a special and demanding duty of care. The standard of care should be somewhat like that imposed on packers of parachutes or open heart surgeons. See W. Page Keeton *505Et Al, Prosser & Keeton On The Law Of Torts § 38, at 208-9 (5th ed.1984); see also, e.g., Rustay v. Consol. Rail Corp., 775 F.Supp. 161, 163-65 (D.N.J.1991) (operating railroad requires greater duty of care). Judge Flaum has pointed out a weak link in a negligence approach: the assumption that a system can be built under which victims of supervisory sexual harassment will feel free to report the problem to the company. See Flaum, p. 502. There ought to be a presumption that in the reporting system under examination, victims could not reasonably be expected to report their problems (unless, of course, the victim actually did). The employer would have an opportunity to overcome this presumption. But, if no evidence were presented, the presumption would import liability.
Also, under the negligence standard, one of the principal liability issues is whether the employer had actual or constructive notice of the creation of a hostile environment by a supervisor. In Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 864 F.Supp. 1552, 1563 (S.D.Fl.1994), the district court held that, if a situation in the company were sufficiently severe to amount to a hostile environment, it was by the same token sufficiently visible to put the employer on constructive notice. In general, this approach has merit. See Meritor, 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2408 (citing with approval Taylor v. Jones, 653 F.2d 1193, 1197-99 (8th Cir.1981) (holding employer liable for racially hostile working environment based on constructive knowledge)). I would create a rebuttable presumption that, if a situation attributable to a supervisor is severe enough to create a hostile environment, the employer is on constructive notice that remedial measures are required.. The employer, of course, could offer evidence to the contrary.
These two presumptions give concrete meaning to Judge Flaum’s call for a heightened duty of care. As I noted at the outset, this view might lead to verdicts not too different from Judge Wood’s approach. These presumptions, however, would respect and reward prudent employers who (1) provide a genuinely protected channel for reporting harassment and (2) remain in close touch with the possibility of harassment by supervisors in their own organizations. The diligent employer will have an opportunity to adduce evidence to this effect and thereby to escape liability.