The Ultimate Hostile Work Environment?

October 18th, 2012 by JBWK

The EEOC reports that a federal judge in Utah was so overwhelmed in a recent case by a construction company’s hostility toward African-American employees that he didn’t even give the company a chance to defend itself.

Typically, employers can defend themselves by showing they had reasonable policies that employees failed to follow in reporting harassment or discrimination. In this case, though, the judge was so convinced by what he heard that he didn’t even let the company try. The worksite was so bad, he said, and the evidence of the company’s failure was so strong, that the worksite was a hostile work environment as a matter of law.

Needless to say, the judge also denied the company’s motion to sanction the plaintiffs for filing a frivolous case.

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