The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently considered the circumstances under which an employer can be held liable for sex discrimination for terminating an employee whose job performance has been maligned by a jilted co-worker intent on revenge.
In Velazquez-Perez v. Diversified Developers Realty
Corp., the court found that the plaintiff had made a plausible
case that he was terminated at the insistence of the company's
human resources manager, who was not in his supervisory chain,
after he had rejected her sexual advances.
The First Circuit laid out a three-part test. "An employer
can be held liable under Title VII if: the plaintiff's
co-worker makes statements maligning the plaintiff, for
discriminatory reasons and with the intent to cause the
plaintiff's firing; the co-worker's discriminatory acts
proximately cause the plaintiff to be fired; and the employer acts
negligently by allowing the co-worker's acts to achieve their
desired effect though it knows (or reasonably should know) of the
discriminatory motivation."
At first, Velazquez-Perez and the human resources manager, Rosa
Martinez, had a good working relationship. Their relationship was
flirty at times. Martinez made a series of romantic advances toward
Velazquez-Perez, which he rebuffed. After Martinez followed
Velazquez-Perez and confronted him on a mutual business trip, he
informed her that he did not want to pursue a serious relationship
with her. Martinez then made statements insinuating that she would
have him fired for rejecting her.
Velazquez-Perez complained to his management about Martinez. In
response, his supervisor advised him to send Martinez a
conciliatory e-mail or "she's going to get [him]
terminated." His supervisor also jokingly suggested that he
have sex with Martinez.
Ultimately, Martinez raised the alleged problems with
Velazquez-Perez's performance to the upper levels of the
company's management and got his employment terminated.
In light of this decision, employers are advised to take seriously
any romantic relationships or sexual advances between co-workers,
and to be careful not to permit jilted co-workers to take revenge
through employment actions. Supervisors should be reminded to
report, document, and investigate all employee complaints, even if
they seem trivial.
Originally published on the Employer's Law Blog
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.