Supreme Court Ruling in "Friends" Sexual Harassment Case
Posted by Alison L. Tsao
Topic: coarse and vulgar language in the workplace and sexual harassment.
Plaintiff was a comedy writers' assistant who worked on the production of the television sitcom "Friends." Prior to her hire, plaintiff was forewarned that, as an assistant to the comedy writers, she would be listening to and transcribing sexual jokes and discussions about sex, because the show featured adult-oriented sexual humor, innuendo, wordplay, and physical gestures. The Court upheld the trial court's order granting summary judgment, finding that the sexually coarse and vulgar language did not involve and was not aimed at plaintiff or other women in the workplace, and therefore did not create a sufficiently severe or pervasive hostile work environment. Employers should understand that the facts of this case are somewhat unique, where the Court found no sexual harassment because it involves a workplace where comedy writers were paid to create scripts highlighting adult-themed sexual humor and jokes, and where members of both sexes contributed and were exposed to the creative process spawning sexually charged language and graphics. Although this case affirms that sexual harassment statutes are not intended to impose a civility code, it also does not provide blanket insulation from sexual harassment lawsuits where coarse and vulgar language is used in the workplace, if the offensive language was directed at members of one gender or is made for non-legitimate business reasons. Lyle v. Warner Brothers Television Productions, 38 Cal.4th 264, 06 C.D.O.S. 3258 (April 20, 2006).