Parker | Scheer LLP Blog

School Sexual Harasment: Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee

My most recent entry discussed the responsibility of School Districts with respect to claims of student sexual harassment.  A recent decision released on October 5, 2007, by the 1^st Circuit Court of Appeals addressed this same issue.  See  Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee.  The pertinent facts of the case begin on February 14, 2001 when Jacqueline Fitzgerald, a kindergarten student in Barnstable, Massachusetts told her parent that each time she wore a dress to school an older student on her bus would bully her into lifting her skirt.  Jacqueline's mother, Lisa Fitzgerald immediately contacted the school principal Frederick Scully to report her daughter's complaints.

Sexual Harassment: Sexual Harassment in School

I was online this morning and I came across an article reported in the Dallas Morning News titled "Ex-student sues McKinney High over alleged harassment by peers."   According to the article, a former student filed suit in Federal Court on Tuesday alleging the school violated Title IX when it failed to respond to the student's complaints of sexual harassment.  Title IX, requires that public schools provide all students with equal access to education.   This article although just published seems to have an all too familiar sound.

Sexual Harrasment: Thomas and Madison Square Garden Liable in Sexual Harassment Suit

On October 2, 2007 a jury of four women and three men declared that New York Knicks' coach, Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden sexually harassed former team executive, Anucha Browne Sanders. 

Sexual Harassment: Severe and Pervasive Sexual Harassment

A bartender was recently awarded back pay and $20,000 for emotional distress by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination for her claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.  The MCAD hearing officer determined the conduct that the female bartender was subjected to constituted severe and pervasive sexual harassment despite the fact the bartender did not tell the supervisor to stop.