Is This Sexual Harassment

The Rosalie Sanchez Case: Is this harassment?

In Rosalie's situation, it would appear that Rosalie has a basis for establishing a prima facie case. There must be two criterion fulfilled in order for there to be discrimination. The first is that Rosalie must be part of a protected class. Rosalie is both a women and a minority and therefore fulfills this requirement. Second, Rosalie must have been treated differently from others based on her being in a protected class. The being treated differently takes place when Steve starts making racist jokes. This has been specifically addressed by the EEOC's interpretation of the Civil Rights Act, Title VII. It is important to note here that Steve's intentions are irrelevant. The negative effect that Rosalie feels is enough to establish that something wrong has been done. Furthermore, when Rosalie confronts Steve and asks that he stop his racist remarks, Steve comments to her that her "success" requires the "skill" of essentially not being racially sensitive. This action goes beyond the just making Rosalie feel uncomfortable to borderline threatening her with the future of her career.

The first action Rosalie can take is no action at all. She should however be well advised to document everything that has happened. In advising her, I would make sure that even though she is not doing anything immediately that she does know that she is in control of the situation and that she has the power to pursue recourse if she wishes. In this scenario, Rosalie would have to hope that the situation would take car of itself. From a legal standpoint, if Rosalie did not report the incidents, she would not bear the burden of having to defend her allegations. Being the accuser often puts a person in the hot seat. From a social standpoint, this would probably be the easiest route. It appears that the others in the group share in there acceptance of Steve's casual racist remarks based on there reaction to his "jokes." This group probably would not respond well to Rosalie outing Steve for his racist actions. Another thought to consider is that Rosalie may still suffer from the idea that she did not do anything. That is that she has a duty to herself and her culture to take action. Living with this guilt may make this the most difficult option.

Rosalie's next option would be to take Brent Weather's offer to speak with Steve about his actions. He offers to let it pass or to bring it up with Steve. From these words I get the idea that Brent does not realize that this is how Steve always behaves. If Rosalie stated during her conversation with Brent that "I've tried communicating my discomfort to him about the way he talks about my culture but I have had no success. Perhaps if you comment to him on what you observed we will see some positive changes in him." This approach has a few benefits. First, Rosalie is most likely going to see results in Steve due to the fact that Brent Weathers, his superior, is delivering the message. Second, if Brent is smart, he will not mention to