Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc.
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
760 F. Supp. 1486 (1991)
- Written by Galina Abdel Aziz , JD
Facts
Lois Robinson (plaintiff) was a female welder at Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc. (Jacksonville) (defendant), where less than 5 percent of the skilled craftworkers were women. Photos of nude and partially nude women were hung on the walls throughout Jacksonville’s workplace. Jacksonville’s vendors distributed an advertising calendar with images of women in sexually suggestive poses. Jacksonville management was aware of the photos and refused to issue a policy prohibiting their display. After Robinson submitted a complaint about the calendars in the shipfitters’ trailer in January 1985, the words “Men Only” were painted on the trailer’s door. Robinson’s male coworkers made sexually vulgar comments to her while in the presence of the pictures of nude or partially nude women. George Leach referred to sodomy as “boola-boola” in a joke about rape that Leach told in Robinson’s presence. After Leach yelled “boola-boola” at Robinson in the parking lot, it became a common nickname for Robinson. Abusive language, including “lick me you whore dog bitch,” “eat me,” and “pussy,” appeared on the walls of Robinson’s workspace. Robinson sued Jacksonville under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for sex-discrimination based hostile-environment sexual harassment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Melton, J.)
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