Cornell University
Library
Cornell UniversityLibrary

eCommons

Help
Log In(current)
  1. Home
  2. Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration
  3. School of Hotel Administration Collection
  4. SHA Articles and Chapters
  5. Same-Sex Sexual Harassment: How the "Equal Opportunity Harasser" Became a Legitimate Defense

Same-Sex Sexual Harassment: How the "Equal Opportunity Harasser" Became a Legitimate Defense

File(s)
Sherwyn23_Same_sex_Sexual_Harassment.pdf (752.05 KB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/71803
Collections
SHA Articles and Chapters
Author
Sherwyn, David
Kaufman, Ezekiel A.
Klausner, Adam A.
Abstract

This article provides a quick history of sexual-harassment law and looks at the appellate-court opinions that came before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a same-sex sexual-harassment case. That latter decision has given rise to the relatively novel equal-opportunity-harasser defense, whereby harassing conduct directed at both men and women, no matter how outrageous, may not be unlawful at all. The reason is that the Supreme Court previously established that sexual harassment must be "because of sex," and failure to prove that gender-related component will automatically disqualify claims for quid pro quo or hostile-work-environment sexual harassment, as indicated by the court decisions outlined in this article. The preferred remedy to the equal-opportunity-harasser defense is to make unwelcome workplace sexual conduct per se unlawful.

Date Issued
2000-12-01
Keywords
sexual harassment
•
same-sex
•
equal opportunity harasser
•
Supreme Court
Rights
Required Publisher Statement: © Cornell University. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Type
article

Site Statistics | Help

About eCommons | Policies | Terms of use | Contact Us

copyright © 2002-2026 Cornell University Library | Privacy | Web Accessibility Assistance