You're out! Bias, harassment, retaliation claims all fail

Some workplace cases provide multiple lessons about employment discrimination. Recently, the 8th Circuit (which covers Arkansas and Missouri employers) rendered a decision providing guidance on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. The female employee in question lost on all three claims.

Facts

In December 2013, Amanda Gibson went to work for Con-E-Co, a manufacturer of portable and stationary concrete batch plants and mixers. During her stint with the company, she was reprimanded for violating its harassment policy, including using sexualized, vulgar language on multiple occasions, one of which resulted in her suspension.

Gibson, in turn, claimed she was the victim of several instances of crude, sexually charged behavior directed at her by coworkers. The incidents included one male employee saying she would look "good with a rod between [her] legs," another remarking her "girls" looked "fuller/perkier," and a third coworker attempting to grab her breast.

In March 2015, Gibson witnessed an interaction between plant foreman C.J. Coartney and an African-American employee, Curtis Frost, in which the former reprimanded the latter for using a vending machine during work time. Gibson believed Frost was sanctioned because of his race. After witnessing the incident, she expressed her concerns to Coartney and at least one other plant foreman, Gary Stillman.