EMPLOYMENT LAW NEWS
What Is a Hostile Work Environment?
By GovDocs
Updated September 2025
Although some of these examples clearly represent poor managerial skills, they may not be considered, by law, a hostile work environment.
If your employer yelled at you and threw a notebook in your direction, would that be grounds for a hostile work environment?
Not according to a federal court of appeals in Washington, D.C. Several years ago, in Brooks v. Grundmann, the court decided that the manager’s behavior was nothing more than “an isolated expression of frustration” and was insufficient to support the plaintiff’s federal race and sex hostile work environment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The plaintiff, Patricia Brooks, alleged that her male supervisor created a hostile work environment from 2005-08 by yelling at and insulting her in front of colleagues, as well as throwing a notebook in her direction when he was upset with her presentation of a new project.
Brooks’ case was dismissed because she neglected to prove that the conduct that had created the alleged hostile work environment was severe or pervasive. Based on her allegations and the fact that her supervisor had some legitimate concerns about her performance (and instructed her of them appropriately), the court maintained that the conduct was not sufficiently severe to support her claims.
Although some of her examples clearly represent poor managerial skills, they are not considered, by law, to have created a hostile work environment.
Another Example of What Is Not a Hostile Work Environment
The findings were similar in Fichter v. AMG Resources Corporation. Plaintiff Shirley Fichter brought a suit against her employer claiming unlawful termination and gender discrimination due to a hostile work environment, citing:
- Her manager telling her she should work closer to home
- Asking her to turn more work over to her colleague
- Asking her to complete her work faster so she doesn’t hold up her colleagues’ work
- Require that she advise a manager if she would be arriving late or leaving early
- Keeping track of her vacation
- Asking her for information but then leaving the office without telling her and before she could provide requested information to him
The court decided that what her manager was asking of her are items managers generally ask of their employees, so nothing amounted to a Title VII violation.
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In summary, a hostile work environment exists when unwelcome conduct directed toward a protected class creates abusive, intimidating, hostile, working conditions. Petty slights, annoyance, and isolated incidents do not generally rise to the level of a hostile work environment. For the conduct to be unlawful, a reasonable person must perceive the work environment as intimidating, hostile or offensive.
Existing law prohibits harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or related medical conditions. And harassing conduct is considered illegal based on subjective hostility – how the employee experiences the behavior and objective hostility – whether a reasonable person would find the behavior hostile.
Please note: This area of the law is in flux right now due to some executive orders issued by Trump earlier this year (2025). While information still remains on the EEOC website, the page states that “the information on this webpage is being reviewed for compliance with the law and executive orders and will be revised.” GovDocs is monitoring this and will update this blog when more information is available or the law changes.
This Employment Law News blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.
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