Court Opinion

ID: 9883883
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:24:02.833574+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:32.633822
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
The record compels a finding that Jane Bersie was subjected to sexual harassment in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. As a woman, Bersie was clearly a member of a class protected by the Act. Minn.Stat. § 363.03, subd. l(2)(c) (1982). Moreover, despite the opinion’s weak characterization of the facts, the record conclusively indicates that Bersie was subject to sexual harassment. Accordingly, the trial court’s judgment should be reversed and the case should be remanded for a new trial.
Sexual harassment includes
*293unwelcome * * * sexually motivated physical contact or other verbal or physical conduct or communication of a sexual nature when * * * that conduct or communication has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s employment * * * or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment * * * environment.
Minn.Stat. § 363.01, subd. 10(a). To state that “Bersie’s problems were personal problems unrelated to her status as a female employee” is to ignore the language of the Act. Under the statute, the issue is whether Bersie was subjected to sexual harassment, not whether this harassment was her primary employment problem.
The record evidences a number of acts of harassment. A Zycad supervisor1 suggested that Bersie may have been hired only because she was a woman, and asked her why she didn’t just become a prostitute for a living. Bersie v. Zycad Corporation, 399 N.W.2d 141, 142 (Minn.Ct.App.1987) (Bersie I). Calling these remarks a “failed attempt at humor” does not negate their sexually harassing character. The Act does not contain an exception for derogatory remarks that are intended to be funny, and creating such an exception here would substantially destroy the Act’s purpose of protecting women from offensive conduct affecting employment conditions.
That same Zycad supervisor also participated in an incident in which he and two other employees suggested that Bersie’s relationship with a customer was' sexual and analogized it to prostitution on behalf of the company. Id. at 143. In addition, a Zycad founder and executive decorated an employee cubicle with pictures of nude women; although the company president saw the pictures in the morning, he did not call them inappropriate until midday and did not direct their removal. The company executive who put up the pictures also failed to intervene and appeared to approve when one of Bersie’s male co-employees initiated unwelcome physical contact with Bersie and called her and other female employees “sweetheart” and “doll.” Id.
A number of other incidents, set forth in Bersie I, such as turning off the computer, giving Bersie the runaround on projects and blocking her entrance to the laboratory, are less patently sexual harassment, but appear to derive from the same motives, particularly as some of them were perpetrated by the same supervisor who had made the sexually derogatory comments. Whether or not the performance issues resulted from this atmosphere, these incidents establish that Bersie was subjected to repeated, unwelcome physical and verbal conduct based on her sex, and this conduct was sufficiently pervasive to create an abusive working environment. Compare Minneapolis Police Department v. Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights, 402 N.W.2d 125, 131 (Minn.Ct.App.1987), pet. for rev. granted (Minn. May 18, 1987). I cannot agree with the trial court’s characterization of these events as “good-natured give and take banter that is part of any working environment.”
The opinion is misleading in its characterization of Bersie I as limited to the adequacy of the findings. While the issue was framed that way, Bersie I actually centered on the adequacy of the trial court’s analysis of the evidence. As Bersie I notes, a prima facie case of harassment can be established by “showing the ‘bare essentials’ of discrimination or harassment, merely ‘sufficient’ evidence to create the inference of unequal treatment.” Id., 399 N.W.2d at 145 (citing Danz v. Jones, 263 N.W.2d 395, 399-400 (Minn.1978)).
In this case, Bersie showed at least the “bare essentials” of harassment. Uncon-tradicted evidence established a number of overtly sexual incidents in addition to the less patently sexual harassment to which Bersie was subjected. Nonetheless, the majority upholds the trial court’s finding *294that no prima facie case was established because this harassment did not substantially interfere with Bersie’s employment or create an abusive working environment. The majority’s analysis, however, focuses not on whether the harassment created an abusive environment, but rather on whether the abusive environment could have a legitimate business justification.2 This analysis improperly places the burden on the plaintiff to prove, as part of her prima facie ease, that no legitimate cause for work problems might exist.
The determination whether harassment created a hostile working environment should properly focus on the nature of the harassment rather than on other work problems. See, e.g., Moylan v. Maries County, 792 F.2d 746, 749-50 (8th Cir.1986) (sustained and nontrivial harassment sufficient to create hostile environment); Katz v. Dole, 709 F.2d 251, 254-55 (4th Cir.1983) (evidence of a “pattern of personally directed sexual insult and innuendo” sufficient to show offensive and hostile working environment); Rogers v. E.E.O.C., 454 F.2d 234, 238 (5th Cir.1971) (mere utterance of a single racial epithet would not sufficiently affect environment to support a harassment claim), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 957, 92 S.Ct. 2058, 32 L.Ed.2d 343 (1972); Klink v. Ramsey County, 397 N.W.2d 894, 901-02 (Minn.Ct.App.1986), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. Feb. 13, 1987) (sporadic exposure to foul language and vulgar materials not directed specifically at the plaintiff not sufficiently severe or pervasive).
Unlike the isolated incident referred to in Rogers, Bersie was subjected to repeated sexually derogatory and offensive behavior. Unlike Klink, the offensive behavior was directed specifically at her. Where sustained and nontrivial sexual harassment is shown, the degree to which other factors may have influenced working conditions is irrelevant to the establishment of a prima facie case. Bersie has met her burden of showing that the acts of sexual harassment created an abusive working environment. The record in this case requires such a finding.
The record also establishes the final element of a sexual harassment claim: that Zycad knew or should have known of the harassment. The Supreme Court in Meritor declined to state a definitive rule on the question of employer liability for harassment by supervisors which creates a hostile working environment. Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, -, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2408, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). Under Minnesota law, an employer will be liable if it knows or should have known of the harassment. Minn.Stat. § 363.01, subd. 10a(3); Continental Can Company, Inc. v. State, 297 N.W.2d 241, 249 (Minn.1980).
A Zycad supervisor and a company executive were not only aware of, but perpetrated, offensive conduct. In March 1983 Bersie told her supervisor that she was treated disrespectfully, but he did not investigate her complaint or ask for any examples. According to Bersie, whenever she went to Horsager with a problem, he would tell her to handle it herself. Where acts of harassment are perpetrated by supervisory agents of an employer in the context of the work environment, the fact that no formal complaint was made to Ber-sie’s immediate supervisor should not insulate the employer, particularly if the employer has not established an express policy against sexual harassment or any procedure for resolving harassment claims.3 See Meritor, All U.S. at-, 106 S.Ct. at 2408.
*295The record cannot support the trial court’s finding that Bersie failed to establish a prima facie case of sexual harassment based on her sex. The absence of a formal complaint in these circumstances does not relieve Zycad of liability for these acts. Zycad did not advance, and it would be impossible to construct, a legitimate business motivation for the offensive conduct.
A showing of constructive discharge or other adverse economic impact is not required to maintain a sexual harassment suit. Id. at-, 106 S.Ct. at 2406. Nonetheless, the trial court’s finding that Bersie failed to establish a prima facie case of sexual harassment likely influenced its finding on constructive discharge, and the case should be remanded for a new trial on that issue as well.

. The majority refers to Allcnbaugh merely as an ‘'employee,” presumably relying on Bersic’s general testimony that Allcnbaugh, Olson and Gilson were “co-employees." However, Harley Horsagcr testified in his deposition that Allen-baugh was "responsible for” marketing and demonstrations and at least one other employee "reported to” Allcnbaugh. At trial Horsager stated specifically that Allcnbaugh "supervised one person at the time.”

. Although the majority emphasizes Bersie’s inability to perform “certain technical tasks,” her supervisor never really criticized her work and told her an engineering degree was not required ■for her job. She was given a bonus just before she left, and company president Offerdahl publicly commended her in July 1983. The record is not at all conclusive on the extent to which her employment problems resulted from gender-related harassment as opposed to “lack of the requisite technical skills.” Her supervisor stated that her work for him at National Computer Systems before they both joined Zycad had been good, timely and accurate and that he was not aware that she had any problems with her co-employees there.

. According to Zycad president Offerdahl, Zycad has an "unwritten policy” of treating its employees fairly.