Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
Jun 26, 1998OUTCOME: Sex harassment judgment affirmed by Supreme Court
Beth Ann Faragher, an ocean lifeguard for the City of Boca Raton, and a co-worker, Nancy Ewanchew, complained about sexul harassment by the Marine Safety Chief and a lifeguard captain. The two women s ... uffered groping, propositions, and the vilest of sexual epithets to refer to them and other women. Numerous other female lifeguards corroborated them. The trial court found for the plaintiffs, but the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed, saying that the City had no way of knowing of the harassment. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, held in 1998 that employers, such as the City of Boca Raton, who do not have in place a mechanism to combat harassment are liable to persons who are harassed by a first level (or higher) supervisor, even if there is no tangible job detriment such dismissal, a pay cut or a transer. While employees who unreasonably fail to avail themelves of an employer's efforts to prevent sexual harassment can be barred from recovery for behavior that merely creates a hostile environment, employers have no protection from liability for supervisory employees whose behavior causes a tangible job detriment. Courts have since extended the principle of Faragher to all forms of hostile-environment harassment. The case is published at 524 U.S. 775. An audio recording of the oral argument, as well as a text version of it, is available at http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1997/1997_97_282/argument/. Note: Beth Ann Faragher is now a lawyer practicing in Colorado. She was sworn into the Bar of the United States Supreme Court by day of the oral argument in her case.
