Eighth Circuit Affirms Award of Attorneys’ Fees to Employer in  Meritless Sexual Harassment Case 

Meriwether v. Caraustar, (8th Cir. April 18, 2003)

http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/03/04/023138P.pdf 

          In this case, the Eighth Circuit held that two relatively minor acts of harassment against one employee did not rise to the level of a hostile work environment under Title VII where the employer promptly responded to the complaints of the employee.  This case arose when the plaintiff had her buttocks grabbed by another employee.  The day following the incident, the offending employee joked about the incident with another employee.  The plaintiff then complained to the employer and employer took prompt remedial action.  The offending employee was suspended for two days initially, and then for an additional five days following the investigation.  He was also ordered to attend training classes on sexual harassment.  The plaintiff also asked for and received a shift change in order to avoid coming into contact with the offending employee at work.  The plaintiff suffered no additional harassment after this incident.  However, the plaintiff still sued under Title VII for hostile work environment sexual harassment. 

          The district court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment and awarded the defendant attorneys’ fees, concluding that plaintiff’s claim was baseless.  The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision and determined that Plaintiff’s claim did not rise to the level of severity required for a hostile work environment claim.  The Court stated that in order to show a hostile work environment claim, the “conduct must be extreme and not merely rude or unpleasant to affect the terms and conditions of employment.”  The Court reasoned that in this case, the conduct did not rise to this level.  The Eighth Circuit also affirmed the award of attorneys’ fees to the employer because of the lack of legitimacy of the claim.