Boundary Issues for Staff Relationships

Legal Brief

You are the superintendent of a small school district with just one other administrator, the principal. The new art teacher knocks on your office door and asks to speak with you. She tells you the principal continuously calls her into his office so he can “mentor” her. She says he rubs her shoulders during the meeting and tells her how beautiful she is.

She fears for her job because the principal says if she does not please him, she will lose her job. She wants to keep this confidential and does not want you to do anything right now because she knows she can “handle” him. You do nothing and forget about the conversation. Months later, the principal recommends firing her because she is not coming into work.

The board terminates the teacher’s employment, and she sues the district.

Is the school district liable?

Probably, because this scenario has all of the elements of a classic quid pro quo claim: a supervisor making unwelcome advances on a subordinate, who presumably rejected the advances and was fired. Liability for quid pro quo harassment is automatically imputed to the employer (Torres v. Pisano).

Under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, an employer is required to take reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct sexually harassing behavior. The fact the teacher asked the superintendent to keep the matter confidential will not shield the district from liability because, under the federal law, “an employer may not stand by and allow an employee to be subjected to … [sexual] harassment by a … supervisor.”

The superintendent had at least a “constructive” knowledge that the teacher was being harassed (“mentored”) by the principal, and that knowledge is imputed to the district. The superintendent had an obligation to tell the district of the harassment, but instead ignored the complaint.

How can the school district avoid liability?

It starts with board policies. The existence of a sexual harassment policy demonstrates that an employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct a supervisor’s sexual harassment (Alexander v. Westbury UFSD). The next step is giving your employees access to the policy and training them on the policy. Take a report of harassment seriously. Investigate the claim promptly and take prompt corrective action.

In the Westbury case, the teacher knew about the sexual harassment policy and failed to take advantage of it. She waited years before reporting the behavior to the superintendent. When she finally reported the incident, the superintendent did an internal investigation, determined the allegations were credible and hired an outside investigator to conduct a more formal investigation. The principal was placed on leave immediately, the district commenced a disciplinary proceeding, and the principal never returned to work. The plaintiff’s claim of quid pro quo harassment was dismissed.

Can a district be liable for consensual relationships?

Maybe. Workplace romances often create friction within the district. Boundaries between employees who work closely together often get blurred because of electronic devices and social media allowing employees to communicate at all hours of the day.

Some districts have nonfraternization policies that prohibit romantic relationships. But a blanket nonfraternization policy that prohibits all off-campus relationships is probably not enforceable because it could violate an employee’s right to freedom of association.

It takes good practices to avoid claims of sexual harassment, which can take many forms. It is always fact specific.

The problem for the superintendent in the opening scenario lies in his failure to inform the employee of her rights and his failure to investigate her allegation. Districts can act affirmatively to prevent claims of sexual harassment by reviewing existing board policies, disseminating such policies to all employees and training employees on its sexual harassment policies. Investigate promptly all allegations of sexual harassment and impose prompt corrective action.

The best action: Contact your school attorney with questions.


Michele Handzel is school attorney with Capital Region BOCES in Albany, N.Y.
E-mail: michele.handzel@neric.org