Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Tennessee

Re: Hostile work environment

The elements of a hostile work environment claim are: A plaintiff may establish a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.S. � 2000e et seq., by proving that the sex discrimination created a hostile or abusive work environment without having to prove a tangible employment action. In order to establish a hostile work environment claim, an employee must show the following: (1) the employee is a member of a protected class, (2) the employee was subject to unwelcomed sexual harassment, (3) the harassment was based on the employee's sex, (4) the harassment created a hostile work environment, and (5) the employer failed to take reasonable, care to prevent and correct any sexually harassing behavior. The fifth prong is related to an affirmative defense--namely that in a harassment case an employer may avoid liability by showing that the employer had taken reasonable care to prevent and correct harassment and that the plaintiff failed to avail himself or herself of the employer's mechanisms for redressing harassment. To be actionable, harassment must be severe or pervasive, creating an objectively hostile work environment, thus altering the conditions of employment.

Unfortunately, cussing you out does not amount to violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. To violate Title VII requires a pattern of racial or sexual discrimination. Having an obnoxious boss is insufficient to create a civil rights claim.

As hard as it may be for you to take, the best recourse here is to find an even better job somewhere else and then have the satisfaction knowing that you did not have to put up with abuse on your old job.

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