Employment — hostile work environment

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Civil

Employment — hostile work environment

Where an employee was subjected to only one unambiguously racially hostile incident, summary judgment was properly granted to the employer on his hostile work environment claim.

“While the alleged actions Nichols faced were offensive, his case can be distinguished from the plaintiffs in Cerros II and Lambert. Cerros and Lambert were subjected to multiple racial epithets directed at them or uttered in their presence. Nichols can only point to one unambiguous incident that is of similar magnitude to that Cerros and Lambert faced. In addition, many of the other incidents that Nichols points to, such as Springfield employees not telling him where the janitor’s closet was located, allegedly making a mess for him to clean up, and baiting him to steal a purse and money from a cash register are similar to the offensive behavior in Peters that we deemed not offensive enough to avoid summary judgment. While there is no place in today’s workplace for the offensive behavior Nichols allegedly experienced, summary judgment on this claim was proper because Nichols failed to present sufficient evidence to support his hostile work environment claim.”

Affirmed.

13-2893 Nichols v. Michigan City Plant Planning Department

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Simon, J., Williams, J.