Oncale V. Sundowner Offshore Services

Business law |

Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services (1998) |

Landmark Case |

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Angela Smoulder |

5/10/2012 |

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Description of the Case:

Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore services was a case brought before the Supreme Court in 1998. This case arose out of a suit for sex discrimination by a male-oil rig worker, who claimed that he was subjected to sexual harassment by his male co-worker with the assent of his employer. In late October 1991, Joseph Oncale was working for Sundowner Offshore Services in the Gulf of Mexico. He was employed on an eight-man crew. On several occasions, Oncale was subjected to sex-related, humiliating actions against him by his co-workers in the presence of the rest of the crew. He was also threatened with rape and sodomized with a bar of soap. Oncale complained to supervisory personnel but no remedial actions were taken. Instead, the company’s Safety Compliance Clerk called him a name suggesting homosexuality. He later quit and requested that his pink slip informs that he voluntarily left due to sexual harassment and verbal abuse.

Description of the Trial and Appeals:

Joseph Oncale filed a complaint against Sundowner in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, stating that he was discriminated against by his employer because of his sex. He argued that he was verbally demeaned, touched sexually, and finally assaulted in the shower by his heterosexual supervisors, while his company, Sundowner, did nothing to stop or punish them. The defendants denied many of the charges stating that they either never happened or that they were not used in a sexually manner. The United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled in favor of the defendant, basing their decision on the earlier case of Garcie V. Elf Atochem, that harassment by a male supervisor against a male subordinate does not state a claim under Title VII. Thus the court decided that Oncale’s co-workers could not be held...