In O’Reilly v. The Institute For Cancer Research, 2025 WL 1534969 (E.D.Pa. May 29, 2025), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s quid pro quo sexual harassment claim asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
From the decision:
Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when an employee experiences a “tangible employment action result[ing] from a refusal to submit to a supervisor’s sexual demands.” Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 753. To state a plausible quid pro quo claim of sexual harassment under Title VII, a plaintiff must allege that she experienced “[u]nwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, [or] other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature,” and “submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of [the plaintiff’s] employment” or “submission to or rejection of such conduct by [the plaintiff] is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting [the plaintiff].” Starnes v. Butler Cnty. Ct. of Common Pleas, 971 F.3d 416, 427 (3d Cir. 2020); see Moody, 870 F.3d at 213 n. 10.
Defendants argue for the dismissal of Dr. O’Reilly’s quid pro quo claims based on Dr. O’Reilly’s failure to plausibly allege that she experienced (1) any conduct of a sexual nature or (2) a tangible employment action. (Doc. No. 11-1 at 21–28.) The Court finds that Dr. O’Reilly has adequately alleged that she experienced both sexually motivated behavior from Dr. Chernoff and a tangible employment action based on her response to Dr. Chernoff’s behavior and, therefore, has stated plausible quid pro quo sexual harassment claims.
The court proceed to assess each of the elements.
As to the first element, the court considered Dr. Chernoff’s email request that they “begin to work together again” along with other alleged conduct – namely, taking photos of plaintiff as well as “repeated, unwelcome, ‘personal messages'” to plaintiff.
As to the second element, the court held that plaintiff plausibly alleged that she experienced the loss of a “significant job benefit or characteristic”, namely, the opportunity to seek grant funding.