Summary Judgment Overturned On Title VII Retaliation And Hostile Work Environment Claims

Billings sued the employer for violation of Title VII and state law alleging hostile work environment and retaliation. The trial court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment. The 1st Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part.

The court applied Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. v. White, 126 S Ct 2405 (2006) to determine whether Billings suffered a materially adverse employment action by reason of her transfer on her claim for retaliation. The court concluded the jury could find that, as a result of the transfer, Billings occupied an objectively less prestigious job: (1) by reporting to a lower ranked supervisor, (2) by enjoying much less contact with the Board, the Town, and members of the public, and (3) by requiring less experience and fewer qualifications. The court remanded Billings's retaliation claims insofar as they arose out of the transfer, the investigation and reprimand over the letter-opening, the charging of personal time to attend her deposition, the ban from the Selectmen's Office, and the refusal to reassign her.

The employer argued that the supervisor's actions did not include lewd language, unwanted touching, sexual advances, or overtly sexual comments to or about Billings. Taking the facts in the light most favorable to Billings (the supervisor regularly stared at her breasts for much of the two and a half years that they worked together, other women had been subject to the same behavior, and she repeatedly complained about such behavior), the court could not definitely say, as the trial court did, that the supervisor's conduct was not sufficiently severe or pervasive to allow a jury to find in favor of Billings on her hostile work environment claim.

Billings v. Town of Grafton

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The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island.