On May 7, 2015, the Fourth Circuit ruled that an isolated instance of harassment, if "extremely serious," can create a hostile work environment, and that complaining about such harassment constitutes protected activity under Title VII's anti-retaliation provisions. This ruling comports with the general trend of federal courts toward broadly interpreting the scope of Title VII's anti-retaliation provisions.
The lawsuit arises from an incident that allegedly occurred in 2010, when plaintiff Reya C. Boyer-Liberto, an African-American woman, was working as a cocktail waitress at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland. Specifically, on September 14, 2010, Boyer-Liberto contends that a Caucasian food and beverage manager yelled at her for supposedly violating protocol by walking through the hotel's kitchen to deliver a cocktail to a customer. During that incident, the manager allegedly referred to Ms. Boyer-Liberto as a "porch monkey."
The next day, Ms. Boyer-Liberto reportedly went to the hotel's management office to complain about the manager's conduct. There, Ms. Boyer-Liberto was confronted by the manager, who allegedly called her a "little girl," said she would "get [her]," threatened to report her to the hotel's owner, and again called her a "porch monkey." A few days later, Ms. Boyer-Liberto complained to the hotel's human resources director that she had been racially harassed by the manager. After being notified of Ms. Boyer-Liberto's...
