Justices Appear to Side with Employee in Retaliation Case
A Nashville, Tenn., school employee who claims she is protected from retaliation for cooperating in an internal probe of sexual harassment appeared likely to win her case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In oral arguments yesterday, lawyers for Vicky Crawford contended she was entitled to the same retaliation protections under Title VII as employees who file formal harassment charges, Workforce Management reports. Crawford claims she was fired for telling company investigators that a school official under investigation had also harassed her.
Workforce Management and Legal Times both report that the justices appeared sympathetic to Crawford’s argument, advanced by the Justice Department and Crawford’s lawyer, University of Washington law professor Eric Schnapper.
When a lawyer for Nashville argued Crawford did not meet Title VII’s requirement of “active opposition” to her harasser’s conduct, justices “reacted incredulously,” the Legal Times story says.
Crawford had told her harasser to “get the hell out of my office,” noted Justice John Paul Stevens. “That’s an active opposition, it seems,” he said.
The Associated Press says the big question in the case may be how broadly the court will protect employees making retaliation claims.
