Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. National Broadcasting Co.

Enid Roth (plaintiff), a female, was an experienced director of televised studio events, but she wanted to be a sports director (i.e., to direct live sporting events). Roth’s employer, the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC) (defendant) gave Roth two opportunities to direct live sporting events. But NBC was dissatisfied with Roth’s performance, believing Roth displayed insufficient creativity and leadership. Instead of hiring Roth, NBC hired several males as sports directors. Per NBC, these males had the creativity and initiative to be sports directors. NBC also did not hire Roth as an associate director for its coverage of Olympic weightlifting. NBC instead assigned that job to a male who had worked on a prior Olympics and who was recommended by the weightlifting event’s producer. Per Roth, NBC’s refusal to hire her as a sports director or associate director was at least partially due to sex-based discrimination. In support of that contention, Roth cited statements by male NBC employees that Roth would not want to hear the bad language that was common in connection with sporting events and would not want to enter locker rooms. However, the men who made those statements were not involved in NBC’s hiring for the relevant jobs. Roth’s union filed a sex-discrimination complaint pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) against NBC with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (plaintiff) on Roth’s behalf. After an investigation, the EEOC sued NBC for, among other things, discriminating against Roth by not hiring her as a sports director. Roth intervened as a plaintiff, asserting, among other things, sex discrimination regarding NBC’s refusal to hire her to be a sports director or associate director. In response, NBC argued that Roth was unqualified for the relevant jobs. In the alternative, NBC argued that the males it hired for the relevant jobs were more qualified than Roth. The district court conducted a bench trial.