Employment Law, Workplace Investigations & Trade Secrets Litigation
Employment Law, Workplace Investigations & Trade Secrets Litigation
Employment-related disputes may have far-reaching implications for a company’s reputation, business and ability to attract and retain talent. Clients turn to Paul, Weiss for our deft handling of the most sensitive internal investigations, high-stakes employment and executive-related litigations, and business-critical trade secrets, non-competition and restrictive covenant disputes.
Second Circuit Review: Evidence of a Hostile Work Environment Under Title VII
October 27, 2004 Full PDF
The October 27 New York Law Journal "Second Circuit Review" features an article written by Martin Flumenbaum and Brad Karp, "Evidence of a Hostile Work Environment Under Title VII." The article reviews the reversal of a district court decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in which the court clarified what evidence is sufficient to support a hostile work environment claim under Title VII. The unanimous opinion in Petrosino v. Bell Atlantic held that a hostile work environment claim can be brought even if men and women were equally subjected to the same offensive conduct at work. The court noted that it was required to consider the social context in which harassing behavior occurs and to determine whether the offensive conduct was more demeaning to women than to men. In addition, the court explained that the offensive conduct must be judged from the perspective of a "reasonable person in the plaintiff's position." Marty and Brad conclude that the decision by the Second Circuit signals that the court may return to the reasonable person standard in future cases. The editor notes that associate David Brown assisted in the preparation of this article.