WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that workers who quit over intolerable sexual harassment are protected by a federal civil rights law, but the court made it difficult for them to sue and win damages from their former employers.
Justices said that like discrimination victims who are fired, those who flee an abusive work environment are covered by a 1964 civil rights law.
However, if a worker quits without facing specific action – such as demotion, transfer to a worse assignment or a salary cut – the Supreme Court said that the employer must be given a chance to defend itself in a sexual harassment case. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court, said the company must prove it had a sincere and effective policy aimed at preventing and responding to harassment, and that the employee did not take advantage of the policy.
The 8-1 decision was a mixed victory for the Pennsylvania state police, sued by a woman who claimed her male bosses told her dirty jokes and urged her to perform sex acts. She said she quit to escape harassment.
Justices overturned a ruling in the woman’s favor but sent the case back to lower court.
In the lone dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said that employers should only be liable if they are proved to be negligent in permitting sexually harassing behavior to occur. He said the court should have ended the lawsuit.
Susan Grover, a law professor at College of William and Mary who represented groups such as the AARP in supporting the case, said the ruling makes it hard for sexual harassment victims to sue if they have no “paper record” of harassment.
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