Civil Rights Appellate Clinic files amicus brief in Third Circuit Court

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—The Penn State Dickinson Law Civil Rights Appellate Clinic, representing the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the petitioner-plaintiff Sophia O’Neill in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

O’Neill, a teaching assistant and lab manager at a university, initiated her action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), alleging, among other things, that she was sexually harassed by a student and the university failed to take appropriate action after she reported the harassment, creating an unsustainable hostile work environment.

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual harassment), or national origin, which includes a prohibition on the creation of hostile work environments based on sex.

The district court ruled that the university involved was not liable for creating a sexually hostile work environment based on a third party’s harassment, in this case, the student. The court ruled that employers cannot be held liable for workplace harassment by non-employees under Title VII unless the employer was substantially certain its own actions would cause harassment. On behalf of O’Neill, the clinic argued the legal standard is not substantial certainty but rather a negligence standard. The brief argues that the negligence standard is the one anticipated by the Supreme Court and one applied in most Circuits.

The clinic researched and drafted the brief in support of O’Neill. Along with Professor and Clinic Director Michael Foreman, nine second- and third-year clinical students worked on the brief: Katherine Bobchin ’27, Hibah Hasan ’26, Mackenzie Junjulas ’27, Trinity MacArthur ’27, Lyn Mungin ’26, Katie Pricer ’27, Kiera Stubbs ’26, Connor Thornton ’26, and Catherine Weatherly ’27. For these students, drafting O’Neill’s amicus brief was deeply impactful and invigorating.

“It was a thrill to work on such an important issue and deliver a final product that might impact the status of civil rights law and better protect workers in our state and beyond,” said Stubbs.

This sentiment was shared by Thornton and Hasan, as they reflected on the big-picture implications that O’Neill’s Title VII claim has on workplace harassment generally.

“It was a very special experience to be able to write a brief to a federal court of appeals to help clarify and argue what the applicable legal standard is in workplace harassment cases, in hopes of benefitting not just Ms. O’Neill but establishing a status-quo for current and future plaintiffs nationwide,” said Thornton.

Hasan reflected on the impact of the brief for her educationally, as well as its broader legal impact.

“Writing this amicus brief taught me how to translate broader policy concerns into persuasive legal arguments that would help a court recognize why employers should be held accountable for harassment by non-employees, particularly given how pervasive workplace harassment can be,” said Hasan.

The Civil Rights Appellate Clinic provides intensive training in appellate advocacy by involving students in noncriminal civil rights cases before the state appellate courts, federal courts of appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Students conduct research, draft briefs, assist in case selection, develop substantive legal positions, and plan appellate strategy.