ONCALE V. SUNDOWNER
The Federal
Court lawsuit stems from Joseph Oncale's four months of work in 1991 as
a roustabout assigned to a Gulf of Mexico oil rig with Sundowner
Offshore Services.
His lawsuit
against Sundowner and the three men alleged that he was sexually
assaulted, battered, touched and threatened with rape by his direct
supervisor and a second supervisor. Another defendant, a co-worker, was
accused of assisting in one of the incidents.
Oncale said
he twice reported the situation to his employer's highest ranking
representative on the job site, but no action was taken. He said he quit
because he feared that harassment would escalate to rape. All three men
named as defendants say no illegal harassment occured, and portray their
conduct as hazing or locker room horseplay.
The court,
by a unanimous vote, ruled that same-sex harassment can violate Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Antonan Scalia stated,
"Title VII does not prohibit all verbal or physical harassment in the
workplace; it is directed only at discrimination because of sex."
"We have
always regarded that requirement as crucial, and as sufficient to ensure
that courts and juries do not mistake ordinary socializing in the
workplace such as male-on-male horeseplay or intersexual flirtation for
discriminatory conditions of employment."
Scalia's
relatively brief, seven-page opinion offered new guidelines for judges
nationwide.
