Summary
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reviews a summary judgment ruling in favor of El Milagro in Alma Sanchez’s Title VII and Illinois Human Rights Act sexual-harassment claims. The court discusses whether repeated unwanted touching and coworkers’ comments could constitute a hostile work environment and whether El Milagro had adequate notice of the alleged harassment and acted negligently in responding.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the alleged coworker touching and sexual comments could support a reasonable jury's finding of a hostile work environment under Title VII and the Illinois Human Rights Act.
- Whether El Milagro was negligent in controlling working conditions by failing to receive sufficient notice of the alleged harassment before the third incident or by failing to take prompt and appropriate corrective action after receiving notice.
Holdings
- The district court properly granted summary judgment for El Milagro because no reasonable jury could conclude that Sanchez gave El Milagro sufficient information before the third incident to establish that the company had notice of probable sexual harassment, and the company took prompt and appropriate corrective action after receiving notice of the third incident.
- If a jury accepted Sanchez's assertion that she reported the harassment to Brito, El Milagro could be held accountable under the reporting standard created by its own policies because Brito was designated as a supervisor and management-chain reporting recipient.
Key quotations
“To constitute actionable sexual harassment, the activity “must be sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of [the victim’s] employment and create an abusive working environment.”” (at 9)
“To prove such negligence, Ms. Sanchez must establish two points: first, that El Milagro had “notice or knowledge of the harassment,” and second, that El Milagro did not take “prompt and appropriate corrective action reasonably likely to prevent the harassment from recurring.”” (at 15)
“A reasonable jury could find that the harassment Ms. Sanchez suffered amounted to a hostile working environment. A jury could not reasonably conclude, however, that El Milagro was negligent in fulfilling its responsibilities in responding to the situation.” (at 21)
Factual background
Alma Sanchez worked at El Milagro's tortilla factory and received an accommodation allowing her to work as a "free person" because of a disability affecting her left hand. She alleged that coworker Francisco Gutierrez touched her buttocks on three occasions, including an alleged rubbing of his genitals against her buttocks, and that other coworkers made sexual comments. After the third incident, Sanchez submitted a written complaint, El Milagro investigated, interviewed Sanchez and Gutierrez, closed the investigation, and instructed Gutierrez to change his behavior; no further sexual harassment by Gutierrez occurred.
Procedural history
Sanchez alleged that a coworker sexually harassed her and that El Milagro failed to promptly investigate or respond to her complaints. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted summary judgment for El Milagro. The Seventh Circuit affirmed.