The Iowa Supreme Court filed its opinion in Tracy White v. State of Iowa and Iowa Department of Human Services on April 12, 2024. This case related to the issues of hostile work environments as raised under the Iowa Civil Rights Act (Iowa Code 216). 

About the case

The foundation of her Iowa Civil Rights Commission Complaint and later civil petition was sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. She alleged multiple instances of conduct by her supervisor, some of which she witnessed and “some of which she learned about later.” Ms. White was employed by the State at the time of her complaints and remained employed even after her supervisor was terminated as a result of her concerns. 

The court noted that “considerable ‘me too’ testimony” was both offered and admitted at trial. However, Ms. White asserted that other employees experienced a hostile work environment, and she used those examples to show that she had suffered from a hostile work environment as well.

In assessing this claim, the court notes that as supervisor, Ms. White was aware of issues but “the discrimination experienced by others and reported to her was insufficient to prove her own hostile work environment claim.” The Court goes on to state, “We conclude the harassment the plaintiff personally experienced was not objectively severe or pervasive enough to alter the terms or conditions of her employment,” thereby reversing the lower court’s verdict. 

While the jury in the lower court originally found that a hostile work environment had occurred, awarding Ms. White $790,000 for emotional distress damages, the Supreme Court did not concur because, as the State argued, “White failed to prove she personally experienced a hostile work environment.” Further noting that “me too evidence at which the Plaintiff is unaware cannot be used to prove she experienced severe or pervasive harassment,” and “overhearing offensive comments is less severe or humiliating than being the intended target of direct harassment.” 

What does this mean for Iowa employers?

For employers it is never a good idea to let issues continue without some form of assessment or reasonable action. However, if you are one of the people charged with taking complaints or a part of the managerial chain, while you have an obligation to report issues to the appropriate place, that process of reporting does not create its own separate claim for the manager.