Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) _ The Supreme Court is taking a long look at sexual harassment, with the justices preparing to hear back-to-back arguments in cases involving lifeguards in Boca Raton, Fla., and a teacher and student in a Texas school district. In fact, sexual harassment has become something of a theme this term. The justices ruled March 4, in a male-on-male case out of Louisiana, that victims may sue for workplace sexual harassment under federal civil rights law, even when their alleged harassers are of the same gender. In the Boca Raton case being heard today _ which examines the standards under which an employer can be held liable _ a woman lifeguard sued the city for alleged sexual harassment by her supervisors. A federal appeals court eventually ruled the city was not responsible. In the Texas case, a male teacher in the Lago Vista School District in Travis County allegedly began a sexual affair with a 15-year-old girl student. Court records say a police officer discovered the two having sex in 1993. The teacher was fired and the state revoked his teaching license. But the girl and her mother sued the school district under Title IX of the Education Act, which bars sexual discrimination, and by extension, sexual harassment. A federal appeals court eventually ruled that school districts are not liable for sexual harassment unless supervisors know about it and do nothing to stop it. Decisions in both of the cases should come before the court recesses for the summer in late June or early July. (No. 97-282, Faragher vs. Boca Raton; and No. 96-1866, Gebser et al vs. Lago Vista) _- -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
