Meritor Vs. Vinson Case Summary

Employers need protection too! Responsibility is being handed to the employers to bring awareness/prevention to sexual harassment. Do you want to deal with the blame and repercussions of not addressing and/or handling the situation ahead of time? In the Meritor v. Vinson case a women who formally worked at the Meritor Savings Bank decided to charge her former supervisor, the vice-president of the bank, and the branch manager. She charged them with claims of being unwelcomingly stroked, raped, insisting sexual propositions, and unasked for revealing of body parts from the supervisor. The case was the first of its sort to extend to the United States Supreme Court. In the end, the court sided with Vinson and identified sexual harassment as an infringement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What’s interesting about this case is that the employer actually had policies and procedures written up concerning discrimination. …show more content…
So, if that’s the case why did this information end up hurting rather than helping their case? The court rejected the argument basically because the policies were poorly formulated and exercised. Additionally, it didn’t specifically address sexual harassment as unlawful. Meritor found the court to be submissive of the EEOC guidelines. These guidelines see the employer as legally answerable when the supervisor or employee engages in sexual harassment. It’s the responsibility of the employers to prevent sexual harassment, bring awareness, inform employees of protocol, and enforce training to all employees especially supervisors. Employees should know sexual harassment is without question not tolerated! The Meritor v. Vinson case was a lesson to all employers. Simply, having a written up policy won’t save you from a lawsuit, you have to enforce protocol and make it known. (If time talk about