In November 2021, a white public-school psychologist (we’ll call her “Plaintiff”) was walking into the assistant principal's office to discuss a student when the administrative assistant said, "Here comes Karen.”

Plaintiff filed an internal complaint and the school principal promptly set up a meeting with the parties to discuss the situation. The administrative assistant apologized and Plaintiff accepted the apology. The assistant principal, however, argued that the term “Karen” was not racially motivated and said, “this is not fairyland.” The assistant principal received a counseling memo. The internal investigator concluded that the assistant principal’s conduct was unprofessional but did not amount to harassment.

Three years later, Plaintiff resigned and subsequently sued the school district and several administrators over the remark. She alleged, among other things, that the school district failed to take corrective action and favored African American employees, she experienced retaliation, and had no choice but to resign due to the hostile work environment she experienced.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern district of New York called Plaintiff’s claims “speculative” stating that the incidents had no effect on Plaintiff’s compensation, benefits, title, responsibilities, or any other term of her employment. The incidents were too isolated to establish a hostile work environment. Even assuming the"Karen" and "fairyland" comments related to race, the court found the incidents were "too few, too separate in time, and too mild" to create an abusive work environment. Moreover, Plaintiff had little contact with the assistant principal in the three years after the singular comment by him, which lacked the severity to alter the conditions of her employment and establish a hostile work environment. The court went on to explain that she didn't show that her working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel forced to quit, especially because she continued to work for the next 3 years and resigned after the assistant principal had already left the school.

Four Takeaways for Workplace Harassment Claims:

1. Investigate every complaint, even if it seems minor, and even if the employee wishes to report the incident informally. In this case, the principal’s prompt convening of the parties to discuss the situation, and the findings from the internal investigation, and documentation from follow up communications were key evidence in favor of the school.
2. Take appropriate remedial action. In this case, evidence of the secretary's apology, Plaintiff’s acceptance of the apology, and the counseling memo to the assistant principal demonstrated that the school took the allegations seriously and acted promptly.
3. Make sure your employee handbook is up to date and includes a workplace harassment/discrimination/retaliation policy.
4. Train managers to respond to incidents, even if the manager simply reports the incident to HR or to other company leadership. These types of matters should be escalated and investigated so they can be documented and resolved.

_____________

For questions about your workplace policies, guidance for addressing a workplace dispute, or to schedule a management training, reach out to an RKW employment attorney.