In Perry v. Captain Robert Slensby, 16-cv-8947, 2018 WL 1136922 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 28, 2018), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s hostile work environment sexual harassment claim.
The facts, in (very brief) part:
Plaintiff reports that on one occasion during their night shift Defendant said to Plaintiff, “If I was a female, I would fuck the shit out of you, and I would get a strap on and go for broke up your ass.” Defendant made this statement while giving Plaintiff an unsolicited shoulder massage in the jail booking area.
After considerable analysis, the court – citing (e.g) Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17 (1993) and Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75 (1998) – held that plaintiff sufficiently alleged a hostile work environment claim and denied defendant’s motion to dismiss.
The court noted that “[d]efendant’s words were sexually explicit and aggressive, and coupled with his unwanted touching of Plaintiff’s body in an intimate manner could be construed as physically threatening.”
Additional factors supporting this conclusion were that plaintiff was required to have ongoing contact with defendant following the incident, that defendant’s conduct interfered with his work performance, and that as a result of the incident plaintiff experienced (e.g.) sleeplessness, emotional distress, and anxiety.