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'Protected Activity' Under Title VII

By Gregory R. Fidlon
December 15, 2008

In October 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, No. 06-1595, the Court's most recent case addressing retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The question presented is whether an employee who cooperates in an employer's internal investigation of sexual harassment is protected by the opposition and participation clauses of Section 704(a) of Title VII. 42 U.S.C. ' 2000e-3(a).

Background

The employer (Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee School District) received complaints from several female employees about sexual harassment by Gene Hughes, the employee relations director for the School District. Several employees who had worked with Mr. Hughes were interviewed by the human resources department. During the course of these interviews, three female employees, including the petitioner, Vicky Crawford, described serious acts of alleged sexual harassment by Mr. Hughes. For example, when asked whether Mr. Hughes had engaged in “inappropriate behavior,” Ms. Crawford relayed an incident in which Hughes allegedly came into her office and “grabbed her head and pulled it to his crotch.” Ms. Crawford also told the investigators that Hughes had sexually harassed other employees.

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