Case Study: Faragher V. City Of Boca Raton

Faragher v. City of Boca Raton case was taken in by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 26, 1988. The case was brought up by Beth Ann Faragher, whom between 1985 and 1990, worked as a lifeguard for the City of Boca Raton, Florida. During these years, Faragher stated the two male supervisors, Bill Terry and David Silverman, performed several acts of sexual harassment against her, and several other female lifeguards. These acts ranged from sexual comments about these women’s bodies to asking them to engage in sexual intercourse with them. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the City of Boca Raton under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that an employer may only be held responsible, if supervisory employees

create a hostile work environment through the sexual harassment of other employees, however these were not the case, as Faragher did not take the necessary steps to indicate that these allegations were proceeding. Lindemann & Kadue states that sexual harassment must be severe to be held against the employer. This case has an tremendous relevance to Human Resources Management as Human Resources deals with helping arguments between internal affairs and employees, and one of the main problems in a businesses is sexual harassment in the workplace, and the Human Resources department is who fixes these issues. I do agree with the outcome of this case in regards to the City of Boca Raton not being held responsible, since Faragher never went to any supervisor to make a formal complaint, and therefore, the city had no chance to fix these issues.