Class 9 Harassment at Work and Legal Environment of Employment

Vocabulary flashcards covering legal principles of workplace harassment, Title VII discrimination types, the Equal Pay Act standard, and objective factors establishing a hostile work environment.

Equal Pay Act Defense Standard

A legal standard allowing an employer to pay male and female employees different wages for equal work only if the wage differential is based on a factor other than sex.

Hostile Work Environment

A form of unlawful employment discrimination that alters the conditions of employment and creates an abusive working environment without requiring a tangible adverse employment action.

Three Types of Discrimination

The three recognized legal classifications of employment discrimination: disparate (unequal) treatment, disparate impact, and hostile work environment (harassment).

Disparate Treatment

A form of discrimination involving intentional unequal treatment of an employee or job candidate based on their membership in a protected class.

Disparate Impact

A form of discrimination occurring when a facially neutral employment practice disproportionately disadvantages members of a protected class without sufficient business justification.

Protected Class Link ('Because of' Requirement)

The legal requirement that harassment constitutes unlawful discrimination only if it occurs because of an individual's protected class membership and would not have occurred but for that membership.

Equal Foul Treatment

Workplace mistreatment or foul language directed indiscriminately at all employees, which typically does not constitute illegal discrimination because it is not based on a protected class.

Gender Stereotyping

A form of sex-based discrimination recognized under the law that involves harassing an individual for failing to conform to traditional expectations, such as targeting a transgender person for dressing 'male' or 'female.'

Dual-Perspective Standard for Hostile Work Environment

The legal test establishing that an abusive environment must be evaluated from both an objective perspective (a reasonable employee) and a subjective perspective (the victim employee's perception).

Four Factors Showing an Objectively Hostile Environment

The four central factors used to assess whether a workplace environment is legally hostile: frequency, severity, impact on the victim, and interference with work.

Frequency Factor

A factor assessing how often harassing acts occur; conduct that becomes repetitive and escalates in frequency over a short time period can establish an unlawful hostile environment.

Severity Factor

A factor evaluating how egregious the conduct is, demonstrated by elements such as a negative attitude, continuing conduct after the victim says 'NO', and workplace discipline.

Impact on Victim Factor

A factor measuring the effect of harassment on the employee, demonstrated by touching, physically threatening behavior, humiliation, or class-based comments paired with a threat to dismiss.

Interference with Work Factor

A factor assessing how harassment disrupts an employee's job performance, shown by comments about a lack of ability or inappropriate workplace behavior such as a supervisor watching pornography at work.

Sotoj v. Nashville Aquarium

A legal case establishing that severe sex-based harassment creates a genuine dispute of fact warranting a jury trial regarding hostile work environment damages, even when time gaps exist between incidents.

Employer Liability for Harassment

The legal exposure an employer faces, potentially including compensatory and punitive damages, when allowing a hostile work environment based on an employee's protected class membership.

Job-Related Credit History Validation

The process by which an employer documents in writing and validates that a credit history evaluation is directly tied to specific financial duties or sensitive information of a job to prevent disparate impact.

Retaliatory Harassment

Harassment directed against an employee because they exercised their rights to oppose discrimination or participated in protected legal proceedings under state or federal law.