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Article: Affirmative defense applies to whistle-blower claim: Williams v. Administrative Review Board, 5th Cir., Case No. 03-60028, July 15, 2004.(Court Report)
- Article from:
- HRMagazine
- Article date:
- October 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Society for Human Resource Management. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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An employee may bring a hostile work environment claim under a federal whistle-blower antiretaliation statute, but the Faragher-Ellerth affirmative defense is available to the employer if the employee suffered no adverse employment action, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently held.
The affirmative defense allows an employer to avert vicarious liability for a hostile work environment by showing that the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct harassing behavior and that the harassed employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of preventive opportunities.
Mason & Hanger Corp. contracted with the U.S. Department of Energy ...