BALL STATE UNIVERSITY SHIELDS ITSELF FROM LIABILITY BY PROMPTLY INVESTIGATING RACIAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINTS 

According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, an employer is not liable for hostile work environment discrimination between co-workers when it promptly investigates complaints and attempts remedial measures, even if the discrimination continues.  In this case, an African-American dining service employee of the university filed a lawsuit claiming that she was repeatedly harassed by a co-worker with racial slurs, threats and other indignities.  After each complaint, the university promptly investigated the incident and took disciplinary action.  When there was evidence to corroborate the employee's account of the incident, the university issued a warning; when there was no corroborating evidence, they counseled the employees about acceptable workplace behavior.

The dining service employee claimed that the university violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because one of its employees subjected her to a hostile work environment on the basis of her race.  In order to establish employer liability for an employee's discriminatory conduct, a plaintiff must prove that an employer failed to "take reasonable steps to discover and remedy the harassment." 

The court of appeals affirmed the lower court's holding that the university was not liable for its employee's actions regarding the hostile work environment charge because it took "reasonable corrective action" in response to each complaint.  Although the harassment may have continued, the university's actions were reasonable because of the promptness of the investigations and because it "calibrated" its disciplinary responses in light of the allegations and the evidence available.

This case affirms how important it is for employers to promptly investigate and deal with complaints of harassment or discrimination in the workplace. 

Vance v. Ball State University et al., No. 08-3568 (June 3, 2011)