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- Asking Worker to Serve Coffee: Harassment or Hospitality?
Asking Worker to Serve Coffee: Harassment or Hospitality?
- By Mindy Chapman, Esq., Mindy Chapman & Associates
- 7/3/2008 - 3:30pm
- Discrimination & Harassment
Mindy Chapman, Esq., Mindy Chapman & Associates
Mindy is a nationally recognized authority in EEO laws and is a contributing editor to the HR Specialist: Employment Law
monthly newsletter. She is highly regarded for her workplace compliance
training that “clicks and sticks,” because it is practical and
memorable. She is also the coauthor of the American Bar Association’s
bestseller and authority on civil rights training, “Case Dismissed! Taking Your Harassment Prevention Training to Trial."
The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) has recognized Mindy as one of its Top Ten Speakers nationally. She has trained extensively in all industries at all levels of the
workforce—from boardroom executives to managers and supervisors and to
hourly employees in union and non-union environments.
Asking your administrative assistant to fetch you coffee may be old-school, but is it sex discrimination? In a recent case, a female employee got in such a froth about her bosses’ demands for coffee that she said, “Get your own coffee and see you in court!” ...
Case in Point: Tamara Klopfenstein was hired as a part-time receptionist for a Pennsylvania sales company. But things went wrong right away. Her supervisors discussed her performance problems, such as failing to pass along phone messages and putting the wrong labels on packages.
But the real trouble began when Klopfenstein received an e-mail from a company vice president who said one of her “many responsibilities as a receptionist/customer services rep is making and getting coffee.”
He went on to place a reoccurring reminder on her electronic calendar to bring coffee to him and another exec at 3:00 p.m. each day. (When she interviewed, Klopfenstein wasn’t told that coffee service would be part of her duties. But it was mentioned soon after she was hired.)
Klopfenstein quickly e-mailed back, “I don’t have a problem getting coffee/and or water for our guests … I don’t expect to serve and wait on you by making and serving you coffee every day at 3:00. If I would have known that when I took the job, I would have never taken the job.”
Apparently, that was the last straw. Nine minutes after receiving Klopfenstein’s e-mail, the boss fired her. She then sued for sexual harassment, sex discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She claimed her bosses created a hostile work environment by requiring her to perform the “degrading” task of getting coffee for male bosses. (Klopfenstein v. National Sales and Supply, LLC, ED PA, 6/5/08)
How did this case end … and what lessons can be learned?
The court sided with the company and tossed out her lawsuit. Klopfenstein had argued that the coffee-fetching requests “reinforce outdated gender stereotypes.” But that didn’t automatically make it sex discrimination. It was simply part of the job requirement linked to the position, not the sex of the employee.
“The act of getting coffee is not, by itself, a gender-specific act” to stir the discrimination pot, said the court. "While the behavior of plaintiff’s supervisors may have been rude, gauche or undesirable, their actions do not violate federal or state antidiscrimination laws.”
3 Lessons Learned … Without Going to Court
1. Always start with the job description. Your job description is your shopping list of skills you are looking for. Make sure it lists everything so that you set expectations and don’t surprise the employee, as in this case.
2. Tell then ask. Tell the applicant, “This job requires X.” Then ask: “Can you do X?” It’s that simple.3. Always ask all applicants. Male, female, old, young, white, brown, black, green, orange and mocha…you get the point!
Small Business Tax Deduction Strategies: 10 tips on Section 179, home office write-offs for the self-employed, tax deductions for vehicles, rental depreciation, real estate capital gains and more!
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