Ninth Circuit Finds Female Employee's Unwelcome Advances On Male Colleague Potentially Actionable

Last week, the Ninth Circuit confirmed that men are equally entitled to protection under Title VII from a sexually abusive work environment. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n v. Prospect Airport Servs., Inc., No. 07-17221, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 18447 (9th Cir. Sep. 3, 2010). The court held that a female co-worker's repeated sexual advances to a male colleague can form a prima facie case of sexual harassment where the man informed her the conduct was unwelcome and repeatedly complained to various supervisors, who did not take steps to stop her behavior. The Circuit panel reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the employer.

Over a six-month period, Sylvia Munoz, who was married, sent notes of an explicit sexual nature to her male colleague at Prospect Airport Services, Rudolpho Lamas. The notes became more frequent as he continued to deny any interest in her. Munoz began to involve co-workers, asking them to deliver her notes to Lamas and to tell him of her attraction to him. As Lamas continued to reject Munoz, saying that as a Christian and a recent widower, and did not want to be involved with a married woman, rumors spread at the workplace that he was homosexual, which increased his discomfort. He began seeing a psychologist and alleges that his work performance suffered. While Lamas had once been chosen to be the key employee in charge of saving an important contract with Southwest Airlines, he was later demoted and fired due to his poor performance and negative attitude. Lamas testified that the stress caused by the six months of Munoz's harassment caused the decline in his performance.

Although he had repeatedly complained to at least three separate supervisors, asking them to make Munoz stop sending him notes and messages, his complaints resulted in just one warning to Munoz that she should stop pursuing Lamas. After that warning, Munoz's advances continued, as did Lamas's complaints to management. But the employer's assistant general manager advised Lamas that the harassment "was a joke" and that Lamas should "walk around singing to yourself . . . I'm too sexy for my shirt." The supervisors' failure to take action contravened both Prospect's written sexual harassment policy, which required prompt investigation and discipline where warranted, as well as Prospect's history of having disciplined men for sexual harassment of women, including two past firings.

The district court had granted Prospect's motion for...