Takeaway: Employers do not automatically bear liability for hostile work environments created by their employees.
A plaintiff may lose a harassment claim if the employer tries to address their complaint and the plaintiff will not accept a reasonable proposed solution, such as a transfer.
The plaintiff worked in construction and had several jobs in and around Detroit. He obtained certification as a gunite nozzleman, operating equipment that sprayed concrete onto surfaces. In the summer of 2020, he began working for Pullman SST Inc. By October, he had begun gunite work on its project at Michigan Central Station.
According to the plaintiff, after he told a co-worker at Michigan Central Station that he was bisexual, a superintendent and crew members repeatedly harassed him using anti-gay slurs and crew members told him that he looked like a gay man who had been brutally murdered in Michigan. Other co-workers allegedly asked him if he was going to make out with a co-worker.
In February 2021, the plaintiff told a Pullman construction manager that co-workers called him a gay epithet and referred to him by the name of a gay murder victim. He mentioned no names to the manager, who promised to talk with the crew members.
According to the plaintiff, the abuse continued. In early April, the superintendent allegedly asked him a derogatory question and called him a derogatory name. On April 29, the superintendent ran into the plaintiff, who was searching for supplies, asked him where...
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