“Don’t Touch The Sheriff:” Tepid Reaction to harassment claim by Chiropractic Practice Results In $100,000.00 Title VII Verdict for Nebraska Therapist

 One would think that a health care practice group would be on its toes in dealing with a potential Title VII complainant whose last name was Sheriff and its failure to take her full measure and to promptly and reasonably initiate appropriate action resulted in a $100,000.00 verdict in Federal Court for the plaintiff.  In Sherri Sheriff v. Midwest Health Partners, P.C. et al., 8:07CV 475, (D. Neb. 2009), the Court upheld a jury verdict in Ms. Sheriff’s favor. The defendants argued that the conduct involved did not arise to the creation of a hostile environment and the evidence was insufficient to substantiate the damages, to establish a causal nexus between  the conduct and the plaintiff’s gender, insufficiently severe enough to rise to actionable harm and the or to establish that the defendants failed to take prompt remedial action.

 

The conduct involved Dr. Curtis Meyer kissing her on the temple when she delivered coffee; and after she complained, squeezing her and pulling her toward him involving contact with her breasts, raising his hands in the air, when she came near him in a mocking manner.

 The practice group delayed meeting with Dr. Meyer until two months after the complaint and only requested, but did not order him to undertake counseling. The defendants were unable to identify the employee who was responsible for undertaking an investigation of Dr. Meyer’s conduct.  Dr. Meyer eventually agreed to attend a five-day training session about harassment and discrimination, but refused to undertake any type of mental health or psychological counseling. Dr. Meyer spent only one day in training, where after Ms. Sheriff resigned claiming constructive termination.

 In order to prevail in a claim of hostile work environment, Ms. Sheriff had to establish that her employer knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take prompt an effective remedial action. In determining whether the employer undertook reasonable remedial measures the courts look at the length of time between the notice of the harassment to the employer and the amount time elapsing before the remedial conduct, the options available to the employer to control the conduct and whether or not the remedial measures ended the harassment. The time delay and feeble response were insufficient to duck Federal sanctions. The practice was unable to show that the conduct was sufficiently benign and that her damages were unsustainable. This is a cautionary tale for any professional practice. Don’t let your people continue to mess with the sheriff.

Comments

[David]

Just read the post about what happens when a business gets lazy and lets a deadline pass without any action. I think any small business could learn an important lesson against procrastination on this one..
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They can give you a small donation of $50 by PayPal in appreciation for your time to add the link. Look forward to hearing back from you.