Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Work Environment, both, just sexual harassment, by a different name

Federal and state law prohibit sexual harassment. The courts have articulate two common types of sexual harassment: quid pro quo (where someone is asked to provide sex in exchange for a job benefit or punished on the job for not providing sex) and hostile work environment (where someone is subjected to “severe or pervasive” mistreatment because of their sex/gender). Whatever the kind of civil rights violation, a complaint of sexual harassment must first be lodged with the EEOC (or appropriate state agency) before a lawsuit can be filed.

In this case, the employee filed a the required administrative charge of sexual harassment but described only a hostile work environment, then when he later sued, he added quid pro quo allegations. The trial court held it was too late; he should have done so in his administrative charge. The Tenth Circuit disagreed holding that, under Title VII’s charge requirement and under federal pleadings standards, the employee’s allegations of sexual harassment were sufficient to put the employer on notice of any kind of sexual harassment, whether quid pro quo or hostile work environment. The court explained that quid pro quo and hostile work environment are just two different examples of sexual harassment.

The case was Jones v. Needham, case no. 16-6156 (10th Cir. 5/12/17).

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