Normally, federal civil rights laws protecting women and other protected groups from discrimination and harassment is triggered only when the plaintiff is able to show a pattern of abuse. But a Chicago case reported by BusinessInsurance.com set a new precedent that a single case of sexual harassment, if serious enough, can indeed trigger a civil rights suit.
The case, Cynthia Berry v. Chicago Transit Authority, was heard by the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals located in Chicago and centers on an alleged incident that took place in January 2006.
Chicago employment lawyer Paul Mollica, representing plaintiff Cynthia Berry, acknowledged that "there aren't a lot of cases like this" in which one single act is evaluated as a civil rights violation. But as the appellate court wrote in its decision, this case met the threshold:
"Berry has provided enough evidence to allow her hostile work environment claim to go forward. As the district court noted, a single act can create a hostile environment if it is severe enough."
Cynthia Berry, a carpenter with the CTA, was playing a card game with coworkers during a morning break. She said Philip Carmichael asked if she would get up so he could partner with another worker, which she refused.
She claims he then grabbed her breasts, picked her up from the bench where she was sitting and rubbed her buttocks against his body.
When she reported the incident to her supervisor, she claims he wasn't interested because she was a "pain in the butt." He also told her he believed she would lose her job if she filed charges and that he would do "whatever it takes to protect the CTA." She eventually filed suit against the CTA six months later.
Her suit alleged that the actions of Philip Carmichael and the response by her manager created a hostile work environment and amounted to sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The lower court dismissed the case after granting CTA's motion for summary judgment.
Related Resources:
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How to Spot Sexual Harassment: 6 Facts (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life Blog)
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