Walmart must face gay ex-worker's harassment claim, US court rules

Sharpe-Miller appealed to the 10th Circuit, where the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission backed his bid to revive the hostile work environment claim. The agency in a 2024 amicus brief said the "steady barrage" language in 10th Circuit precedent was illustrative and not exhaustive of the kind of conduct that could violate Title VII, and that Riggs had improperly relied upon it. The commission at the time had a Democratic majority and the two Republican commissioners, Andrea Lucas and Keith Sanderling, voted against filing the brief. Lucas is now the EEOC chair and Sanderling is the acting labor secretary and President Donald Trump's nominee to fill the role permanently. The 10th Circuit on Monday agreed with Sharpe-Miller and the EEOC with respect to the hostile work environment claim. "Our case law makes clear that, in certain circumstances, a smaller number of discriminatory acts can also create a hostile work environment," Holmes wrote. The case is Sharpe-Miller v. Walmart, 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-2055. Walmart hired Sharpe-Miller in 2017 to stock shelves at a Roswell, New Mexico, store and later made him a supervisor in the food department overseeing nearly 30 other employees. He was demoted to a lower-paying job in 2019 after a conflict with store managers, who told him he was being investigated for sexually harassing twin brothers under his supervision, according to court filings. Sharpe-Miller denied wrongdoing and the investigation went nowhere, he says. But he ultimately quit in 2021, which he claims was necessary after he faced anti-gay bias. Coworkers used various slurs and mocked Sharpe-Miller's perceived femininity, according to filings in the case. Sharpe-Miller sued Walmart in 2022 alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a comparable New Mexico law. U.S. District Judge Kea Riggs in Albuquerque granted summary judgment to the company in 2024. A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a claim that Walmart failed to prevent severe harassment of a gay employee at a New Mexico store, saying its prior rulings do not require workers bringing some discrimination claims to meet a heightened standard of proof. Two judges on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge who dismissed Jerry Sharpe-Miller's hostile work environment claim improperly discounted alleged incidents, including coworkers calling him a pedophile and other slurs as well as using a slur for gay people to address one another. The judge had cited 10th Circuit precedent requiring a "steady barrage of opprobrious comments" to prove a hostile work environment claim. On Monday, Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes said the court never intended to narrow the scope of anti-discrimination laws prohibiting "severe or pervasive" conduct. "Adopting a strict, literal construction of the 'steady barrage' language and treating it as a uniform frequency requirement ... would be at odds with that foundational legal test," Holmes wrote, joined by Circuit Judge Michael Murphy. The court affirmed the dismissal of the rest of Sharpe-Miller's 2022 lawsuit against Walmart, including claims of sex discrimination, retaliation and constructive discharge. The panel had included Circuit Judge Carolyn McHugh, who recused herself and did not participate in the opinion. A Walmart spokesperson in a statement said the company does not tolerate discrimination and was pleased that the 10th Circuit upheld the dismissal of most of the claims. "We are reviewing the claim it remanded and will continue to defend the company against this litigation," the spokesperson said. Sharpe-Miller's lawyer, Derek Garcia, said the decision was significant because it made clear that individual acts can help create a hostile work environment even when they would not form the basis of a discrimination lawsuit on their own. "We are hopeful that this ruling will allow future victims of employment discrimination to receive due consideration and eventually justice on their claims, without the fear of reprisal and retaliation Mr. Sharpe-Miller experienced early on," Garcia said in an email.

Walmart must face gay ex-worker's harassment claim, US court rules

EEOC backed the appeal

Background of the workplace dispute

Most of Sharpe-Miller's lawsuit remained dismissed

10th Circuit revives harassment claim

Related News

Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman CEO Lawson Whiting to retire

Columbus Circle 3 Sponsor reports purchase of 265,000 Columbus Circle Capital III common shares for $2.65 million

Kodiak Gas Services EVP, COO Chad Lenamon sells 1,000 shares for $67,790

Corn, soybean futures firm on US weather threat, wheat retreats

Nasdaq Trade Halt <XOMA.O> Trading Halted; For Information Requested by Nasdaq at 07:50 PM