‘Sexually graphic’ music in workplace deemed harassment

Blaring “sexually graphic, violently misogynistic” music throughout the workplace can be considered sexual harassment, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in overturning a lower court ruling.

Apparel manufacturer S&S Activewear LLC in Reno, Nevada, blasted music that denigrated women, glorified prostitution and described extreme violence from commercial-strength speakers placed throughout its 700,000-square-foot warehouse, according to the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in Stephanie Sharp et al. v. S&S Activewear LLC.

The music “overpowered operational background noise and was nearly impossible to escape,” the ruling said. It also “served as a catalyst for abusive conduct by male employees, who frequently pantomimed sexually graphic gestures, yelled obscenities, made sexually explicit remarks and openly shared pornographic violence.”

Both female and male workers took offense, but despite almost daily complaints S&S management defended the music as “motivational,” the ruling said.

Eight former employees —seven women and one man — sued the company in U.S. District Court in Reno, alleging the music and related conduct created a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The district court dismissed the case, reasoning that the music’s offensiveness to both men and women “ified any discriminatory potential.”

In overturning the ruling, a three-judge panel said a workplace “saturated with sexually derogatory content” can constitute harassment because of sex.

“The sort of ‘repeated and prolonged exposure to sexually foul and abusive music’ that Sharp alleges falls within a broader category of actionable, auditory harassment that can pollute a workplace and violate Title VII,” it said in reversing the lower court and remanding the case for further proceedings.