The plaintiff was a male who held the position of Local Sales Manager for a TV station. He was supervised by General Sales Manager Patty Dean and the two were under the supervision of General Manager Kathy Sparks. Hardage worked in the Seattle sales office, while Sparks worked out of the corporate office in Tacoma. He alleged that he was harassed by General Manager Sparks who made sexual advances toward him. Most of the incidents in question occurred outside of the workplace. Hardage mentioned the situation to Dean and subsequently to an HR manager, but did not provide specifics and said that he preferred to handle the situation himself. No action was taken by CBS management. Hardage eventually resigned from his job and sued.

1. What were the legal issues in this case? What did the court decide?

2. What tangible employment actions does Hard age allege he was subjected to? Why does the court not agree?

3. Was Hard age subjected to a hostile environment? Were Spark’s actions toward him “unwelcome?” Was this harassment or simply a workplace romance that went awry? Would you view the case any differently if the alleged harasser was a male and the plaintiff a female?

4. What did the employer do to prevent and promptly correct any harassment? Do you think that the company did enough in this case to meet its legal obligations?

5. Why do you suppose that Hard age acted as he did (i.e., continuing to socialize with Sparks, waiting months to complain, not supplying all of the “gory details,” saying that he preferred to deal with the matter on his own)? Was he unreasonable in failing to take advantage of the employer’s preventive and corrective mechanisms?