Sexist supervisor succumbs to sensitive Sylvia's suit

Sylvia Dominguez-Curry was rejected for a supervisory position that was eventually filled by a male. The man who was hired was interviewed by her supervisor along with another higher-level manager. The reason given for hiring the male was that he was more qualified because of his education and work experience.

Dominguez-Curry felt that she had not been hired because she was a women and she had evidence to prove it.

Dominguez-Curry's male supervisor would constantly make demeaning comments to women in her division, such as: "he wished he could get men to do [their] jobs," "women have no business in construction," and "women should only be in subservient positions". He made comments that female employees were likely to get pregnant, that he did not like working with pregnant women, and that women "had no business working if they had little children to care of at home." The supervisor also told sexually explicit jokes in the workplace.

What the Court decided: The supervisor's demeaning comments about women in the workplace, his hostility toward pregnant employees, his expressed preference for male employees, and his sexually explicit jokes possibly created a hostile work environment (the facts would be left for a jury to examine). It was also possible that the supervisor's discriminating behavior played a role in his hiring process due to his comment about wanting to hire a man. It did not matter whether the supervisor was not the sole decisionmaker.

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