In Westendorf v West Coast Contractors (2013) the Plaintiff, a project manager assistant, claimed hostile work environment based on sexual harassment, based on several sexual comments she heard from her manager, some of which were directed to her and others were directed to another woman. The Court affirmed that dismissal of the case. The Court noted yet again that isolated inappropriate comments, without other evidence of sexual discrimination or unlawful harassment, do not create a viable hostile work environment claim. Plaintiff was, however, allowed to proceed forward with her retaliation claim. This is because even though there was no sufficient evidence to prove the harassment claim, the court found that there was sufficient evidence to allow the Plaintiff to prove that her complaints were the motivating reason for her being fired.
This decision makes a lot of sense. It would be impractical and borderline nonsensical to allow every inappropriate comment or sexual innuendo/joke turn into a lawsuit for obvious reasons. The Court requires evidence of unlawful hostility against an employee based on a protected class that goes beyond a few isolated comments, especially of those comments are taken out of context.
This decision makes a lot of sense. It would be impractical and borderline nonsensical to allow every inappropriate comment or sexual innuendo/joke turn into a lawsuit for obvious reasons. The Court requires evidence of unlawful hostility against an employee based on a protected class that goes beyond a few isolated comments, especially of those comments are taken out of context.
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