U.S. class-action sexual harassment lawsuit
Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
|
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|
Court
| United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
|
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Full case name
| Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Company, et al.
|
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Submitted
| October 21, 1997
|
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Decided
| December 5, 1997
|
---|
Citation(s)
| 130
F.3d
1287
; 75 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (
BNA
) 852,72 Empl. Prac. Dec. (
CCH
) ¶ 45,174; 48 Fed. R. Evid. Ser v. 454
|
---|
|
Prior history
| 139
F.R.D.
657 (
D. Minn.
1991); 824
F. Supp.
847
(D. Minn. 1993)
|
---|
Subsequent history
| Rehearing
en banc
denied, February 18, 1998
|
---|
|
Judge(s) sitting
| Theodore McMillian
,
Floyd Robert Gibson
,
Donald P. Lay
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|
Majority
| Lay, joined by a unanimous panel
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Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
, 130 F.3d 1287 (8th Cir. 1997),
[1]
was the first
class-action
sexual harassment
lawsuit
in the
United States
. It was filed in 1988 on behalf of Lois Jenson and other female workers at the Eveleth Taconite
mine
in
Eveleth, Minnesota
on the state's northern
Mesabi Range
, which is part of the
Iron Range
.
Facts
[
edit
]
Jenson first began working at the site in March 1975 and, along with other women, endured a continuous stream of hostile behavior from male
employees
, including sexual harassment, abusive language, threats,
stalking
and intimidation. Specifically, hostile behavior several women faced included repulsive sexual graffiti and men masturbating on women or in front of women. In one case, a man purposely kicked over a porter potty that was occupied by a female employee.
[2]
In another case, a woman named Judy Jarvela who also worked at the mine reported multiple instances where she came back to her locker with semen on her clothing. One of her co-workers, Diane Hodge, reported that other male co-workers would come up from behind Jarvela and grab her breasts in front of the other co-workers.
[3]
It is infrequently noted that women who were not seen as “desirable” by these men still faced harassment whether sexual or not. Oftentimes, in male-dominated workplaces, when men do not look at a certain woman sexually, they will harass her in other ways to try and get her to leave, because they believe she is taking the place of a man.
[4]
Their union, USW, did nothing to stop it. They worked with Eveleth's management to create a divide between the female workers in a successful attempt to get them to testify in opposition of these accusations against Eveleth.
[5]
On October 5, 1984, Jenson mailed a complaint to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights outlining the problems she experienced.
[6]
In retaliation, her car tires were slashed a week later. In January 1987, the state's agency requested that Ogelbay Norton Co.,
[7]
a
Cleveland, Ohio
-based part-owner of the mine, pay
US$
6,000 in punitive damages and $5,000 to Jenson for mental anguish, but the company refused.
It is evident that females working in male-dominated workplaces are treated differently than their male co-workers. This is suspected to be due to sex-role spillover, a theory suggesting the carryover or spillover of gender roles or expectations into the workplace where it is not relevant. When there is an uneven gender ratio in a workplace, sex-role spillover will take place.
[4]
Sex-role spillover theory is relevant to the Jenson v. Eveleth case as it was the only expert testimony allowed in the case.
[8]
On August 15, 1988, attorney
Paul Sprenger
filed
Lois E. Jenson and Patricia S. Kosmach v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
in the
U.S. District Court
in
Minneapolis
. Sprenger's complaint stated that Eveleth Mines was discriminatory against female employees and created as well as condoned a hostile work environment for female workers.
[5]
Patricia S. Kosmach was another named plaintiff for the case, and Kathy Anderson was the third named plaintiff for the Jenson v. Eveleth case.
[5]
Class-action
status was requested at the time, and granted by
James M. Rosenbaum
on December 16, 1991. Jenson quit working at the mine on January 25, 1992, and was diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress disorder
a short time later.
A
liability
trial began on December 17, 1992, in front of Judge Richard Kyle in
St. Paul, Minnesota
, and six months later, he ruled that the company should have prevented the misconduct.
[9]
The company was ordered to educate all employees about sexual harassment.
Patrick J. McNulty
of
Duluth
was named
special master
a few months later to oversee a trial that would determine the amount of money owed to the women in damages. The retired federal magistrate permitted
lawyers
from the mine company to obtain
medical records
of all of the women for their entire lifetimes. Ahead of the trial, the plaintiffs endured long
depositions
that explored their personal lives in great detail.
The first half of the trial for damages began in Duluth on January 17, 1995 and lasted until February 10. After a break, it resumed on May 22 and ended on June 13.
On March 28, 1996, McNulty released a 416-page report that called the women "
histrionic
," made public details about their private lives, and awarded them an average of $10,000 each. However, the judgment was
appealed
and reversed by the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
on December 5, 1997.
[1]
A new
jury
trial on damages was ordered.
This case is not unique in that several other companies have had lawsuits against them for similar and almost identical behavior. There are many parallels between this case and other blue collar workplace cases to securities and grocery store cases. Specifically, a lawsuit made against the Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois had many similarities other than the fact that the Jenson v. Eveleth case went to trial whereas the Mitsubishi case did not.
[10]
The main similarities between these two cases are the hostile sexual behavior that the women working for both companies faced; women at both companies reported to have experienced unwanted sexual advances, sexual graffiti, and more.
[10]
Settlement
[
edit
]
On December 23, 1998, just before the trial was set to begin, fifteen women settled with Eveleth Mines for a total of $3.5 million. One of the original plaintiffs, Pat Kosmach, died partway through the case, on November 7, 1994.
The case was documented in the 2002 book
Class Action
and a 2005 fictionalized
film
version,
North Country
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
,
130 F.3d 1287
(
8th Cir.
1997).
- ^
Bingham, Clara (2003).
Class action : the landmark case that changed sexual harassment law
. Laura Leedy Gansler (1st Anchor books ed.). New York: Anchor Books.
ISBN
0-385-49613-3
.
OCLC
53969370
.
- ^
Baker, Carrie.
The Women's Movement Against Sexual Harassment
. Cambridge University Press. p. 67.
- ^
a
b
Gutek, Barbara A.; Morasch, Bruce (January 1982).
"Sex-Ratios, Sex-Role Spillover, and Sexual Harassment of Women at Work"
.
Journal of Social Issues
.
38
(4): 55?74.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1540-4560.1982.tb01910.x
.
- ^
a
b
c
Hart, Melissa (2003).
"Litigation Narratives: Why Jensen v es: Why Jensnn v. Eveleth Didn't Change Sexual Harassment Law, but Still Has a Story Worth Telling"
. Archived from
the original
on May 7, 2023
. Retrieved
May 7,
2023
.
- ^
"Minnesota Department of Human Rights"
. Archived from
the original
on January 16, 2013
. Retrieved
July 3,
2006
.
Archived
2013-01-16 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Oglebay Norton
Archived
June 19, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Sinclair, H. Colleen (August 21, 2007).
"Searching for the Psychology in The Handbook of Women, Psychology and the Law: The Handbook of Women, Psychology and the Law Edited by Andrea Barnes, San Francisco, California, Jossey-Bass, 2005. 448 pp. $60.00 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0787970603"
.
Sex Roles
.
57
(5?6): 467?469.
doi
:
10.1007/s11199-007-9260-y
.
ISSN
0360-0025
.
S2CID
141996512
.
- ^
Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
,
824 F. Supp. 847
(
D. Minn.
1993).
- ^
a
b
Selmi, Michael (2005).
"Sex Discrimination in the Nineties, Seventies Style: Case Studies in the Preservation of Male Workplace Norms"
. Archived from
the original
on April 12, 2023
. Retrieved
May 7,
2023
.
Notes
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]