Employers are well advised to take steps to create a safe work environment.
In the case of Castleberry v. STI Group, No. 16-1313 (3d Cir., July 14, 2017), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Pennsylvania) joined several other Courts of Appeals in finding that a single use of a racial slur can be sufficient to show a hostile work environment on the basis of race.
In Castleberry, the two African-American plaintiffs alleged that their supervisor “used a racially charged slur in front of them and their non-African-American co-workers”, within the same conversation threatened to terminate them, and two weeks later plaintiffs were terminated.
The lower court, agreeing with the employer, dismissed the case on the basis that this one incident was insufficient to show a hostile work environment. However, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with the lower court and found that conduct that is “severe or pervasive” is sufficient to support a claim for hostile work environment on the basis of race.
The Court went on to note that in order to make this determination, the totality of the circumstances has to be reviewed. In Castleberry, the Court noted that often times such cases arise from pervasive and repeated harassment; in this case it allowed the employees’ claims to move forward finding that the one incident alleged may be sufficient to support a claim for hostile work environment.
The Court did note it would depend upon what discovery showed that would determine if the case could proceed to trial.
In sum, the Court found that there can be circumstances in which a single incident by itself could be sufficient to support a claim for a hostile work environment.
Castleberry demonstrates the need, both from a legal liability perspective and in order to provide a safe and welcoming work appropriate environment for all employees, to be sure to have strict policies that prohibit any type of harassing or discriminatory conduct and discriminatory language, as well as the need to act quickly in the event such behavior is reported. The Court makes clear that even on the first occasion, such conduct might rise to the level of harassment and employers would be well advised to act quickly to address the same and take steps to avoid this occurring in the work environment.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Employment Log (EPELog) is a publication of the KingSpry Employment Law Practice Group. Jeffrey T. Tucker, Esquire, is our editor-in-chief. EPELog is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
