{
  "id": "RS21702",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS21702",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104562,
      "date": "2004-06-18",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T20:13:51.775815",
      "title": "Sexual Harassment, Constructive Discharge, and Employers' Affirmative Defenses: The U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders",
      "summary": "On June 14, 2004 the Supreme Court resolved a conflict among the federal circuits concerning\nthe\ndefenses, if any, that may be available to an employer against an employee's claim that she was\nforced to resign because of \"intolerable\" sexual harassment at the hands of a supervisor. An\nemployer may generally assert an affirmative defense to supervisory harassment under the Court's\n1998 rulings in  Farager v. City of Boca Raton  and  Burlington Industries, Inc. v.\nEllerth . The\ndefense is not available, however, if the harassment includes a \"tangible employment action,\" such\nas discharge or demotion. In  Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders , the plaintiff claimed\nthe tangible\nadverse action was supervisory harassment so severe that it drove the employee to quit, a\nconstructive discharge in effect. The Court, in an opinion by Justice Ginsburg, with only Justice\nThomas dissenting, accepted the theory of a constructive discharge as a tangible employment action,\nbut it also set conditions under which the employer could assert an affirmative defense and avoid\nstrict liability. The issue is of key importance for determining the scope of employers' vicarious\nliability in \"supervisory\" sexual harassment cases alleging a hostile work environment.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
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}