A supervisor allegedly grabbed and squeezed his subordinate’s nipple, and took a towel and rubbed it on the employee’s crotch, according to the opinion of a federal appellate court.
The employee sued, claiming hostile work environment, and claimed that the supervisor “received some perverse sexual gratification” from these acts.
Several other employees complained about similar conduct from the supervisor.
However, the federal court found that as a matter of law there was no sexual harassment or hostile work environment, and so granted summary judgment for the employer.
All of the employees subjected to what the Court said were “manifestly inappropriate and obnoxious” acts were male.
Just asking: Would the result have been different if the employees were female?
The case is a little more complicated than this because of the requisite elements of Title VII that have to be met by a plaintiff, but I wonder if the Court, faced with a female victim who presented these same allegations, would have treated her case the same way.