Texas appeals court expands harassment claims

A very recent opinion from the federal court of appeals covering Texas expands the scope of hostile work environment claims. It provides several lessons to Texas employers.

Nude video of employee circulates at work

Yes, you read that right. Melinda Abbt was a firefighter for the city of Houston, as was her husband. She worked (and lived, given how fire station schedules are set up) at Station 18. She made a nude video of herself for her husband’s private use. The video was sent via anonymous e-mail to her boss, a junior captain at the fire station. (There’s a suggestion on the record that her boss downloaded it from her personal laptop that she brought to the station.)

What did Abbt’s boss do? He watched the video, sent it to his boss (a district chief), and showed it to other firefighters in a group setting. What did he not do? That’s right. He didn’t tell Abbt.

Instead, the boss and the district chief kept watching it over the next nine years! All the while, Abbt continued working and living shoulder-to-shoulder, side-by-side, toe-to-toe with her boss and the other firefighters at the station. She didn’t learn about the video being watched by others until May 18, 2017, when the district chief confessed to her husband he had seen it.

The fallout

Upon learning the video had been watched by those she worked with, Abbt was distraught. She was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), awarded workers’ compensation (which the city opposed), and medically separated from the city on February 12, 2019.