The Iowa Supreme Court has unanimously reversed a $790,000 verdict awarded a state employee in a hostile-work-environment lawsuit.
Tracy White filed the lawsuit in 2019 against her supervisor Mike McInroy at the Department of Human Services. The state appealed saying several so-called “me-too” reports of harassment by others against McInroy should not have been allowed in the case. The Iowa Supreme Court agreed, saying White failed to establish she personally experienced sufficiently severe or pervasive conduct. It says merely having a bad boss does not get creat a hostile-work-environment claim, nor does a personality conflict with a supervisor.
The High Court says affirming the judgment would undermine well-established precedent setting a high bar for proof of objectively severe or pervasive harassment, and it would expose Iowa employers to costly liability for sporadic vulgarities and common personality conflicts.