Hostile Work Environment

Hostile work environment harassment refers to offensive and unwelcome workplace conduct based a person's race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or physical ability. Such conduct is a form of workplace discrimination and is against the law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from hostile work environment harassment. Most commonly, the phrase hostile work environment is used to refer to one of the two forms of unlawful sexual harassment (the other being quid pro quo sexual harassment). The concept of hostile work environment is especially relevant to the topic of gender and society because it reveals gender as foundational to the way that organizations and individuals within them operate.

As a form of sexual harassment, a hostile work environment is one in which unwelcome sexual advances or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature unreasonably interfere with a person's job or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. Hostile work environment harassment is the most common form of sexual harassment. Workers in all positions and of all genders may be subject to hostile work environment harassment, just as all such workers may commit this type of harassment. Unlike quid pro quo harassment, a worker's organizational status does not matter—colleagues of equal status may sexually harass one another, as could workers in differential positions. Examples of hostile work environment sexual harassment include such behaviors as displaying pornographic or other sexually explicit materials at work, spreading rumors about a coworker's sexual activities, making lewd remarks or telling offensive [Page 442]sexual jokes in the workplace, or touching coworkers in a sexual way without their consent.

Hostile work environment harassment was first recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1986 case of Mentor Savings Bank v. Vinson. The plaintiff's claim of sexual harassment was initially denied by lower courts, which ruled that the sexual relationship in question was consensual and did not result in economic loss for the plaintiff. The Supreme Court later reversed the ruling, thus recognizing hostile work environment sexual harassment as a legitimate and punishable form of sexual harassment. Another example of hostile work environment sexual harassment can be seen in the class action suit Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., filed in 1988. In this case, the first-ever U.S. class action sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against Eveleth Taconite Mining Company as a result of the overt display of pornographic graffiti, posters, cartoons, and other explicit materials as well as frequent sexist and degrading comments toward and about women at the company. The facts from this case later inspired the popular 2005 film North Country. These and other cases have shaped today's understanding of hostile work environment sexual harassment, as described in this entry.