You've Got to Be Kidding!: How to Keep Your Job Without Losing Your Integrity

The Potential “Hostile Environment” Claim

Companies today also are taking steps to prevent a “sexually charged” situation, an interesting twist on the “hostile environment.” For example, after a six-year battle, the California Supreme Court issued an eagerly anticipated decision pertaining to sexual harassment claims brought under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The justices held that widespread sexual favoritism in the workplace creates a hostile work environment that demeans other employees.

Edna Miller and Frances Mackey (latter now deceased) were employed by the California Department of Corrections (CDC). The two claimed that prison warden Lewis Kuykendall was having affairs with at least three subordinates, and that these women were receiving preferential treatment. In l999, Miller and Mackey filed a lawsuit against CDC alleging sex discrimination and illegal retaliation, claiming they were “forced to work in a hostile work environment where women got ahead and were promoted if they performed sexual favors for employees of CDC.”

Miller and Mackey’s lawsuit got stalled in the lower courts for some time because everyone involved in the affairs said they were consensual. And Miller never argued that the warden directly harassed her. However, the courts eventually ruled in Miller’s favor by stating that a sexually charged atmosphere, if sufficiently widespread, created an actionable “hostile work environment” and qualified as a type of sexual harassment. That’s ...