Summary
finding that employers violate Title VII by permitting male supervisors to demand sexual favors from female employees
Summary of this case from Scannell v. Bel Air Police DepartmentOpinion
No. 76-1610.
Argued January 13, 1977.
Decided February 14, 1977.
Elaine C. Major, Arlington, Va., for appellant.
Hill B. Wellford, Jr., Richmond, Va. (Francis V. Lowden, Jr., Christine H. Perdue, Hunton Williams, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Before WINTER, CRAVEN and BUTZNER, Circuit Judges.
The district court, without granting leave to amend, dismissed the plaintiff's complaint in which she alleged that she had been discharged for rebuffing the sexual advances of her male supervisor, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on the ground that the complaint failed to allege a good cause of action. We disagree. We think that the complaint and its exhibits, liberally construed, allege an employer policy or acquiescence in a practice of compelling female employees to submit to the sexual advances of their male supervisors in violation of Title VII. The judgment of dismissal must be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.