June 13, 2023
Employment Law partner Sal Gangemi was recently quoted in a Law360 article on a Ninth Circuit recent decision that blaring music with misogynistic lyrics in the workplace can support a sexual harassment claim even if both women and men were offended, a position giving workers a new and potentially potent weapon to employ in other bias cases.
The three-judge Ninth Circuit panel said sexist epithets do not need to be targeted at a particular employee to give rise to a hostile work environment claim under Title VII, and the misconduct can still amount to unlawful harassment if it affects workers beyond one specific group.
Sal, a veteran labor and employment lawyer with nearly 30 years of litigation and counseling experience in helping clients navigate today’s complex local, state and federal employment laws, noted that while it is common for warehouses and similar work facilities to have music played on-site with offensive lyrics, now employers are going to need to take it more seriously.
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