Rulings on Sexual Harassment

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. It does not say anything explicit about sexual harassment, but the Supreme Court in 1986 said the law was intended to broadly cover any disparate treatment of men and women on the job, including cases of harassment. Following are the Supreme Court's major rulings on that subject:

• Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 1986: Sexual harassment in the workplace is a form of sex discrimination covered by Title VII.



• Harris v. Forklift Systems, Primary Loci of Work and Sources of Income, 1993: Employees who sue a company for sexual harassment, contending that the work environment was hostile, need not show that they suffered serious psychological injury. It is enough to show that the workplace was reasonably seen as hostile or abusive.



• Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, 1998: Sexual harassment claims can be filed even when the victim and harasser are of the same sex.



• Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District, 1998: A student may not successfully sue a school district for a teachers' sexual harassment unless the district actually knew about the harassment and was deliberately indifferent to it. Because it involves a school, this case relies on Title IX, which forbids sex discrimination in schools that accept federal funding.



• Faragher V. City of Boca Raton, and Burlington Industries v. Ellerth, 1998: An employer is liable for its supervisors' sexual harassment, even if it didn't know about the misconduct; in some cases, an employer can defend itself by saying it took reasonable steps to prevent harassment on the job.

The texts of these decisions can be found at the Web site.