Employment Law

Published date01 May 2018
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30453
Date01 May 2018
NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR MAY 2018
10 © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company All rights reserved
DOI: 10.1002/nba
Employment Law
Here’s a look at several recent notable lawsuits involving nonprots� Nonprots should regularly review
employment laws and their compliance efforts to avert similar issues�
Title VII
One day of cursing doesn’t create hostile
environment
On a Saturday in February 2014, a U�S� Postal
Service supervisor instructed Wayne Fellers and
another custodian to wax the employee locker-room
oors� He also told them to discourage co-workers
from entering while they worked�
When the two custodians began waxing the men’s
locker-room oors, they posted signs that the area
was closed off� However, a white co-worker expressed
a desire to access his locker� Fellers, who was also
white, told the co-worker to stay out� However, the
co-worker cursed at him and entered the locker room�
Later, a male co-worker of Asian descent ignored
the “closed” signs, walked on the new wax nish and
left footprints on the oor�
The two custodians then moved to the women’s
locker room, and again posted signs announcing
that the area was closed for waxing� Nevertheless, a
black female employee and an Asian female employee
asked to enter the locker room� When Fellers said
no, they entered anyway� The black co-worker also
allegedly called Fellers a “dumb, stupid snowake,
“dumb, stupid white boy,” and “dumb, stupid f------
a------ white boy�” The Asian woman refrained from
insulting Fellers but shocked him by changing her
clothes in his presence�
Fellers reported the incidents of that day to man-
agement� Deciding that no one had taken any action
in response to his complaints, Fellers led a suit
claiming he was subjected to a hostile work environ-
ment in violation of Title VII by the actions of the
co-workers and the inaction of his superiors�
The trial judge dismissed the suit�
On appeal, the court explained that the existence
of a hostile work environment depended on factors
including: (1) the frequency of improper conduct, (2)
its severity, (3) whether it was physically threatening
or humiliating and (4) whether it unreasonably inter-
fered with the employee’s work performance
It then noted that Fellers was not physically threat-
ened, and that the offensive conduct occurred on a
single day
EMPLOYER WINS The panel ruled that a jury
could not reasonably nd the comments directed at
Fellers that day created a hostile work environment�
Although the purported taunts from the black female
co-worker referred to race, the court explained that
her remarks were not meaningfully distinguishable
from those referred to in other previous cases where
courts had ruled that isolated epithets were legally
insufcient to create a hostile work environment� And
while Fellers was apparently shocked that a female
co-worker would change clothes in his presence, the
court ruled it was implausible that she was engaging
in discriminatory conduct “directed at” him because
they were both in the women’s locker room at the time�
Because the appellate court agreed that the con-
duct did not create a hostile work environment, it
decided there was no need to address the additional
contention that management did nothing to address
the alleged harassment�
[Fellers v. Brennan, U�S� Court of Appeals for the
7th Circuit, No� 17-1176, 10/24/2017]�
Sexual harassment
Failure to report harassment proves fatal
to former employee’s suit
Isadore Moore began working at the Bolivar
County Regional Correctional Facility in 2012 as an
alcohol and drug counselor�
According to Moore, Director Brenda Cook be-
gan to sexually harass him not long after he started
working there� He claimed Cook: (1) asked him if he
was married, (2) asked if he was “seeing anybody,”
(3) complimented him on how he looked, (4) invited
him to go out and have drinks with her, (5) sent a
picture of herself to his personal email account and
(6) told him he looked like the type of guy that knew
his way around women�
Moore claimed he declined Cook’s overtures, and
she allegedly began criticizing his work, reprimand-
ing him, writing him up and requiring him to attend
training sessions�
In October 2014, Moore was red for the stated
reasons of “unsatisfactory work performance and
incomplete client les�”
Moore led a suit that asserted several claims,
including a hostile work environment�
Bolivar County led a motion for summary judg-

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