1. It is possible that the men in the workplace described in this instance are confronted with a hostile work environment within the legal context of sexual harassment that is created by the behavior of the female employees, as outlined in the question. Before it can be established that a hostile workplace exists for these male workers, however, other determinations must be made. These other determinations are as follows:
Do the actions of the women in the workplace (as described in the question) rise to the level of creating a hostile environment within the context of employment law concerning sexual harassment?
If the answer to the about question is ôyesö, does it matter that females are sexually harassing males, instead of the other way around?
With respect to the first issue (above), the actions of the women in this workplace do rise to the level of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The sexual harassment in this case results from a hostile environment that (a) is created by the behavior of the women and which (b) makes the male employees in the workplace feel uncomfortable to the point of interfering with their performance of their work. With respect to the second issue (above), the fact that women are the harassers and men are the harassed in this case is immaterial (Rene v. MGM Grand Hotel, Inc., 2002). Thus, one can conclude that a hostile work environment exists at the workplace for the male employees in that workplace, and one may conclude that the source of the hostile workplace environment is the sex-oriented behavior of some of the females in the workplace.
2. It is possible that Stuart has placed himself at risk of a finding of sexual harassment liability against him. The evaluation of this question requires the following determinations:
Can a customer (the situation that prevails in this question) create a h...