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Williamson V. City Of Houston Case Summary

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1. Name of the Case: Williamson v. City of Houston 2. Citation: 148 F.3d 462 3. Date Decided: 1998 4. Facts: Linda Williamson was a police officer with the City of Houston and was assigned to the Organized Crime Squad and was frequently partnered with Officer Doug McLeod. Over a period of time, Williamson complained to sergeant Michael Bozeman multiple times that McLeod was behaving inappropriately on a regular basis and that behavior consisted of sexual harassment and that she had regularly advised McLeod to stop but he did not; although she did not use the term “sexual harassment”. Bozeman eventually separated the two but after some time he partnered Williamson and McLeod together again and the inappropriate behavior reportedly never stopped. …show more content…

Williamson later filed a complaint with IAD that Bozeman had retaliated against her for her complaint against McLeod. She advised she was shunned, taunted and given a less desirable assignment that caused her to lose overtime possibilities. IAD eventually found her sexual harassment to be not sustained and McLeod only received a written reprimand and Bozeman faced no disciplinary action. Williamson filed an EEOC complaint and this led to suit against the City of Houston. A jury ruled in Williamson’s favor and she was awarded lost compensation and punitive damages. The City of Houston then filed a timely appeal stating that they did not receive timely notice of the alleged violation and that the liability of Bozeman should rest with Bozeman and not be imputed to the City as having been notified of the complaint allegations. 5. Main issue: Does notifying an immediate supervisor who is not considered “upper management” satisfy the requirement of notification to the agency that in turn creates a situation of vicarious liability to the agency if they do not act on the alleged complaint? 6. Court Deciding: United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

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