On Monday, June 24, the Supreme Court narrowed the legal definition of "Supervisor" as it applies to workplace harassment cases. In Vance v. Ball State University, a 5-4 decision, the Court held that an employee must be able to take tangible employment actions in order to be considered a supervisor.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination by employers based on protected characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. When workplace harassment based on a protected classification occurs, the standard for determining liability varies depending on who is committing the discriminatory acts. If the harassing employee is a co-worker, then the employer is only liable if the employer was negligent in controlling working conditions. If the harassing employee is a supervisor, the standard changes. Companies are much more likely to be liable for the actions of supervisors, who stand in as representatives of the company.
While companies remain liable for the actions of supervisors, the definition of who is a supervisor was narrowed and clarified by the Court. The Court's decision indicated that only those who are empowered by the employer to take tangible employment actions against an employee can now be considered supervisors. In the past there was some debate if an employee was a supervisor if he or she only oversaw or assigned work, but now the supervisor must be able to take employment action as well. The actions the court lists as tangible employment actions include hiring, firing, demoting, promoting, transferring, or disciplining.
If the supervisor takes tangible employment action against an employee such as firing or demoting the employee, then the employer is always liable. However, if the supervisor didn't take a tangible employment action, the accused employer is only required to show that the employer took reasonable care to prevent and correct harassing behavior, or that the accuser unreasonably failed to take advantage of the preventative or corrective measures available.
Women are more frequently bullied than men. In fact, a survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute found that 62 percent of bullies were men and 58 percent of targets were women. The survey also revealed that the majority (68 percent) of bullying is same-gender harassment and that women bullies target women 80 percent of the time.
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