BNSF Gets Conductor’s Hostile Work Environment Claim Dismissed

BNSF Railway Co. isn’t liable for the alleged inappropriate behavior a female train conductor experienced from her male coworkers, a federal court said.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed BNSF subjected Rena Merker to a sexually hostile work environment for more than 10 years, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Merker’s case is one involving “coworker harassment” rather than “supervisor harassment” under Title VII, Judge Brian C. Buescher said in an opinion for the US District Court for the District of Nebraska. Though the behavior experienced by Merker was “boorish, and even vile,” it ...