“No other evil we
know is faster than Rumor, thriving on speed and becoming stronger by running.”
_ Virgil, The Aeneid
Back in 19 BC, the ancient Roman poet Virgil noted the
destructive nature of rumors. More
recently, in 2019, a federal appeals court has held that rumors can be a potential
basis for liability in employment law litigation.
In a significant decision, the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court and held
that false workplace rumors that a female employee had been promoted for having
sex with her boss could serve as the basis for sexual harassment and
retaliation claims against an employer.
The case also serves as a warning to employers of the costs involved in
not effectively addressing such situations.
In Parker
v. Reema Consulting Servs., Inc. (4th
Cir. Feb. 8, 2019), Evangeline Parker worked at her employer’s warehouse
facility. While she began as a low-level clerk, she was promoted
six times, ultimately rising to Assistant Operations Manager of the facility. However, she subsequently learned that a
jealous subordinate, whom she had been promoted over, and a higher ranking
manager at the warehouse, were actively spreading rumors that her success was
the result of her having a sexual relationship with another company
official. As alleged in the lawsuit she
later filed, as the rumor
spread, Parker “was treated with open resentment and disrespect” from many
coworkers, including employees she was responsible for supervising. As she
alleged, her “work environment became increasingly hostile.”
The
manager who was spreading the rumor subsequently confronted Parker and blamed her for “bringing the situation
to the workplace” and told her “he could
no longer recommend her for promotions or higher-level tasks because of
the rumor” and he “would not allow her to advance any further within the
company.” When Parker subsequently
sought to talk to the manager about the situation, the lawsuit alleges the
manager lost his temper and began screaming at her. Parker subsequently filed a sexual harassment
complaint against the manager and the subordinate with the company’s Human
Resources Manager. Following the
complaint, the manager in question issued written warnings against Parker and
she was fired as a result.
Pursuant
to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), Parker filed a
lawsuit alleging a hostile work environment claim based on discrimination
because of her sex, as well as a retaliation claim. However, in January 2018, the federal
District court granted the employer’s Motion to Dismiss. The District Court held she failed to state a
sex discrimination claim because “the establishment and circulation of this
rumor is not based upon her gender, but rather based upon her alleged
conduct.” She subsequently appealed the
decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
In
reversing the District Court’s decision, the Fourth Circuit held that the lower
court was wrong in deciding that the workplace rumor was not based on Parker’s
sex:
As alleged, the rumor was that
Parker, a female subordinate, had sex with her male superior to obtain
promotion, implying that Parker used her womanhood, rather than her merit, to
obtain from a man, so seduced, a promotion. She plausibly invokes a deeply
rooted perception — one that unfortunately still persists — that generally
women, not men, use sex to achieve success. And with this double standard,
women, but not men, are susceptible to being labelled as “sluts” or worse,
prostitutes selling their bodies for gain.
In short, because “traditional
negative stereotypes regarding the relationship between the advancement of
women in the workplace and their sexual behavior stubbornly persist in our society,”
and “these stereotypes may cause superiors and coworkers to treat women in the
workplace differently from men,” it is plausibly alleged that Parker suffered
harassment because she was a woman.
In addition to reversing the lower
court’s dismissal of Parker’s sex discrimination claim, the Fourth Circuit also
reversed the dismissal of her retaliation claim, allowing both claims to
proceed to a trial on the merits.
The
lesson from this case is that workplace gossip and rumors are not harmless and can
result in potential liability to employers when they involve protected classes
under Title VII or other anti-discrimination statutes. Human Resources should take complaints about
such rumors seriously and address them directly.
