Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Request to serve coffee is not sexual harassment

It seems pretty out there that a plaintiff's attorney would actually bring a Title VII case around a receptionist serving coffee to supervisors. The plaintiff testified that she acquiesced once or twice, but that she found the request demeaning and embarrassing and believed that they "reinforced outdated gender stereotypes."

The district court rejected the claim, and held that "the act of getting coffee is not, by itself, a gender-specific act."

The district court's opinion can be found here.

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