Imagine the following scenario:

It is early Friday morning and David, the Coffee Bistro manager, unlocks the door, flips on the lights, and starts getting ready for the morning rush of espressos, latts and cappuccinos. He is particularly happy this morning because tonight he has a date with Melissa, a barista he hired a while back. The problem, as David sees it, is that Ryan, another Coffee Bistro employee, has been getting a little too friendly with Melissa lately. David has redone the work schedule, assigning Ryan the clean-up shift and cutting back his hours, hoping Ryan will simply quit and get out of David's way, but that doesn't seem to be working. Ryan just keeps hanging in there, despite a lighter paycheck and David's unwarranted criticism.

While David sets coffee to brew and takes milk from the cooler, he worries a little about what today will bring. Tina always worked the early morning shift, but this week she quit to go back to school. He had no choice but to schedule both Ryan and Melissa for today. "Oh well," David muses, lining up pastry in the display cabinet, "if I see anything funny from Ryan today, I'll just fire him. I don't care what those people at corporate HR say. After all - I'm the boss!"

1. What do you think? Can David fire Ryan? Would this meet the definition of hostile environment related to gender discrimination?
2. What is HR's responsibility at Coffee Bistro? Would the employer be liable for David's behavior? Why or why not?