Harassment · Federal · Title VII
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
524 U.S. 775 · Supreme Court of the United States · 1998
A city lifeguard alleged that two of her supervisors repeatedly subjected her and other female lifeguards to offensive touching and lewd remarks over several years. The city had a harassment policy but had not effectively communicated it to the beach operations staff.
The Court set the framework for employer liability for supervisor harassment, including the affirmative defense that requires the employer to show reasonable preventive measures and an unreasonable failure by the employee to use them.
Judgment for the employer, reversed
Reported outcome
Reversed; the employer was held vicariously liable on this record.
Completeness reading
74/100
ignita-completeness-v1 · illustrative
Preview. Not legal advice. Attorney-reviewed: false.
The events, kept in order.
Drawn from the reported decision. Nothing is interpreted at this stage — each entry simply holds when it happened and what happened.
Years
Repeated conduct by two supervisors
Offensive touching and lewd remarks directed at female lifeguards over a multi-year period.
Protected activity or key conduct
Context
Policy existed but did not reach the worksite
The city had adopted a harassment policy but had not effectively disseminated it to beach staff.
Context
No usable reporting channel
The policy did not provide a route to bypass the offending supervisors in the chain of command.
Step
Informal reports to a third supervisor
Complaints were mentioned to another supervisor, who did not report them upward.
Protected activity or key conduct
What the engine reads here
The decisive facts were institutional: whether a policy existed, whether it reached the actual worksite, and whether a usable reporting channel existed. Those are record artifacts, and they are collectable long before anyone considers a claim.
Pattern and class signal
Strong multi-claimant pattern. Multiple lifeguards, the same two supervisors, the same uncommunicated policy — the classic structure for aggregated or class treatment.
Preview. Not legal advice. Attorney-reviewed: false.
Your own record
Every matter here began as small, ordinary entries someone almost didn't keep.