Pfullman v. Texas Department of Transportation

24 F. Supp. 2d 707, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20721, 1998 WL 754918
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedOctober 16, 1998
Docket1:97-cv-00663
StatusPublished

This text of 24 F. Supp. 2d 707 (Pfullman v. Texas Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pfullman v. Texas Department of Transportation, 24 F. Supp. 2d 707, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20721, 1998 WL 754918 (W.D. Tex. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CAPELLE, United States Magistrate Judge.

Before the Court is the above-referenced case, which was tried to the Court on August 24 through August 26, 1998. The parties previously consented to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).

I. STANDARD

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it “an unlawful employment practice for an employer ... to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(l). Plaintiff, Michael Van Pfullman, brings this case for same-sex harassment and retaliation under Title VII against his employer, the Texas Department of Transportation.

1. Sexual Harassment (Hostile Work Environment) Standard

Title VII affords employees the right to work in an environment free from discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult. Meritor Savings Bank FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 65, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2405, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). “A plaintiff can establish a violation of Title VII by proving that sexual harassment created a hostile or abusive work environment.” Williamson v. City of Houston, Texas, 148 F.3d 462, 464 (5th Cir.1998) (citing Mentor, 477 U.S. 57, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49). A hostile environment claim requires the plaintiff to show that his work environment was so pervaded by harassment *709 as to alter the terms and conditions of his employment. Meritor, 477 U.S. at 65, 106 S.Ct. at 2405. In order to be actionable under the statute, a sexually objectionable environment must be both objectively and subjectively offensive, one that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive, and one that the victim in fact did perceive to be so. Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21-22, 114 S.Ct. 367, 370-371, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993).

In Harris, the Supreme Court directed lower courts to determine whether an environment is sufficiently hostile or abusive by “looking at all the circumstances,” including the “frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance.” Id. at 23, 114 S.Ct. at 371. “Title VII does not prohibit ‘genuine but innocuous differences in the ways men and women routinely interact with members of the same sex and of the opposite sex.’ ” Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 U.S. 75, -, 118 S.Ct. 998, 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 201 (1998). “A recurring point in these [Supreme Court] opinions is that ‘simple teasing,’ id. 118 S.Ct. at 1003, offhand comments, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not amount to discriminatory changes in the ‘terms and conditions of employment.’ ” Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 523 U.S. -, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 2283, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998). Title VII does not prohibit “the ordinary tribulations of the workplace, such as the sporadic use of abusive language, gender-related jokes, and occasional teasing.” Id. 118 S.Ct. at 2284. Bothersome attentions or sexual remarks must be “severe or pervasive” to create a hostile work environment. Ellerth, — U.S. at - -, 118 S.Ct. at 2264-65.

To establish vicarious liability of an employer in the hostile work environment context, the employee must show not only a hostile environment but that he suffered an “ultimate employment decision,” also stated as an “adverse job action.” Ultimate employment decisions include hiring, discharging, promoting, compensating, or granting leave. Webb v. Cardiothoracic Surgery Assocs., 139 F.3d 532, 539 (5th Cir.1998); Messer v. Meno, 130 F.3d 130, 135 (5th Cir.1997), cert. filed No. 98-535 (Sept. 22, 1998). “An ultimate employment decision, in itself or through its direct consequences, must effect a material change in the terms or conditions of employment.” Dupre v. Harris County Hosp. Dist., 8 F.Supp.2d 908, 924 (S.D.Tex.1998).

If there is no ultimate employment decision but a hostile environment has been shown, the employer may assert as an affirmative defense that it had an adequate program in place that would have corrected the hostile environment and that the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of the program. See Ellerth, — U.S. at - -, 118 S.Ct. at 2265-67. Essentially, El-lerth holds that an employer is automatically vicariously liable if a plaintiff suffers an adverse employment action by a harassing supervisor, but the employer will be judged on a negligence standard if there was a hostile environment but no adverse employment action occurred. Id. 118 S.Ct. at 2270. Obviously, if there is no hostile environment, the employer is not liable.

Subsequent to Ellerth, the Fifth Circuit stated “a claim of hostile work environment sexual harassment under Title VII must be supported by proof that the employer knew or should have known of the harassment in question and failed to take prompt remedial action.” Williamson, 148 F.3d at 464.

2. Retaliation Standard

Pfullman also raises a claim of retaliation. To establish a claim for retaliation, Pfullman must prove (1) that he engaged in protected activity, (2) an adverse employment action occurred, and (3) there was a causal connection between the participation in the protected activity (i.e., his complaints of his supervisors’ actions) and the adverse employment action. Messer, 130 F.3d at 140. The Fifth Circuit has stated “in a claim for retaliation under Title VII, we are concerned only with ultimate employment decisions, including hiring, discharging, promoting, compensating, or granting leave, and not ‘every decision made by employers that arguably *710 might have some tangential effect upon those ultimate decisions.’ ” Webb, 139 F.3d at 540 (citing, Mattern v. Eastman Kodak Co., 104 F.3d 702, 707-08 (5th Cir.1997)).

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24 F. Supp. 2d 707, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20721, 1998 WL 754918, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pfullman-v-texas-department-of-transportation-txwd-1998.