EEOC Complaint Process Essay

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Elements of a Hostile Work Environment Claim

According to the EEOC (2019), harassment is defined as “a form of employment discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” which prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other things, race. Hispanic is considered a “race” in US law, per Village of Freeport v Barrella (Cuthbertson, 2016).

Further, it is “unwelcome conduct that is based on race…” John is facing harassment as defined by the EEOC. Petty slights are not covered under this definition, but slurs and epithets are. The elements of a claim are the evidence that such an epithet or slur was uttered, and it helps to demonstrate that this a pattern of behavior that has resulted in an ongoing hostile environment. Furthermore, the claim should also demonstrate that the company did not respond to the allegations of harassment. If the company knows about harassment, it is obligated under law to take prompt and appropriate corrective action. Thus, the claim rests on demonstrating a pattern of behavior that would constitute harassment, and a lack of response from the company once it became aware of the issue.

John can potentially satisfy the different elements of the claim. One of the things he needs to do is be able to produce evidence that the slur or epithet was uttered, which probably involves producing a credible witness or voice recording. Further, John will help his case by showing that the slur was not a one-time thing, but representative of a pattern of behavior.

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The final element is that the hostility impedes John’s ability to perform his job, which is more a matter of him arguing that this is the case (Dolman, 2018). Further, he will need to show that he raised the issue with the human resources department, and ideally show that they did not respond with prompt and appropriate corrective action. If none of this is in writing, it will be much more difficult for John to satisfy the different elements of an EEOC hostile work environment claim. But if he has hard evidence of both major elements of the claim, then he may well be able to satisfy the legal requirements.

Employer Defense

In this situation, the employer will likely defend the case one of two ways. The first is that they might deny the allegations. If there is no physical evidence or witnesses, this denial could be enough for a successful defense, because John’s case will not be that strong. However, if there is physical evidence, say of John raising the issue with HR and HR responding weakly, then that might put the employer in a different situation. The other defense that makes sense here might be to admit that the supervisor used a slur, but that it was a one-time thing, and he regrets it. For a hostile work environment claim,….....

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