The Role of Supervisors in Employment Discrimination

JURIST Guest Columnist Ian Hayes, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2013, is the author of the eleventh article in a 15-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. He argues for the application of Staub v. Procter Hospital to Title VII claims to promote justice for workers…

Today, a woman may find herself in a situation where she was fired based on gender but has no legal remedy for this discrimination. Imagine the following hypothetical. A woman works under a supervisor who has repeatedly made it clear that he resents women who work for the employer because of his perception that they get pregnant at a moment’s notice and leave a hole in the workforce. Part of the supervisor’s job is to write evaluations for everyone he supervises and he writes several evaluations for the woman worker alleging that she has a poor attendance record. The supervisor does not report similar attendance concerns about male workers to his boss. A decision-maker in a managerial role, who does not know the female worker, reads the supervisor’s written evaluation. Even though the decision-maker does not have the discriminatory intent of the supervisor, he decides to terminate the worker based on the supervisor’s evaluation. Workers cannot sue their employer for such discrimination in all jurisdictions and employment discrimination law should be adjusted to make relief available for all workers who suffer such discrimination.

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