DOMINO'S LOSES APPEAL IN SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE
The bill for
Domino's Pizza is $237,000 plus attorney fees now that the Supreme Court
has let stand a sex-harassment award won by a former pizza shop manager
from Florida.
The
justices, without comment, rejected an appeal in which Domino's argued
that it was wrongly held legally responsible for the harassment David
Papa received from his boss, area supervisor Beth Carrier.
The nation's
highest court already is studying a case from Boca Raton in which it is
expected to clarify when employers may be held responsible for the
misconduct of an employee's supervisor. But Clinton administration
lawyers told the justices that Papa's victory would not be affected by
the outcome of that case.
According to
lower court rulings, Papa was managing a Domino's shop in Port Richey in
1988 when Carrier began harassing him - touching him in inappropriate
ways and inviting him to live with her.
When Papa
eventually threatened to report her conduct, Carrier told Papa she would
"get" him. She fired him six days later.
Papa and the
Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Domino's, alleging
that the company had violated a federal anti-bias law that bans
on-the-job sexual harassment.
A federal
trial court ruled in 1995 that Domino's could be held responsible for
the hostile work environment Papa worked in. It also ruled that Papa,
who had since moved to Deltona, was the target of illegal retailation
and had suffered what lawyers call "quid pro quo harassment" because his
rejection of Carrier's sexual advances resulted in his firing.
The trial
court awarded him $237,257.52 in back pay and ordered Domino's to post a
written sexual harassment policy in each of its shops across the nation
for two years. Domino's also was ordered to pay the lawyers fees Papa
had incurred.
The 11th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the trial court ruling last April.
