Caroline Sinegar
91 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 755
Legislators across the country have passed state and federal statutes to provide relief to victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. At the state level, there is little uniformity regarding how victims are protected or what kind of behavior constitutes a hostile work environment sexual harassment claim. At the federal level, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects victims of sexual harassment. Those who do not live in states that have expanded protections beyond those in Title VII rely on the federal statute for protection from harassment.
Under Title VII, however, the desired objectives have not been realized due to high burdens on plaintiffs to establish actionable claims. This leads to confusion and inconsistent outcomes across the country for victims of sexual harassment. As a result, many victims simply remain unprotected and conditions in the workplace that allow sexual harassment to happen in the first place continue to persist. Federal courts should adopt and apply a lower standard if they seek to uphold the protections and promise of Title VII, erode a legal standard that sustains patriarchal power structures in the workplace, and provide victims of sexual harassment a chance to be heard in court.
