Monday morning I had the honor of observing the oral arguments
for Vance v. Ball State at the United States Supreme Court. At
issue in the case was how courts should define “supervisor” for
the purposes of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which
prohibits employment discrimination, including sexual
harassment. This definition is important because it determines
when an employer—in this case, Ball State University—will
automatically be held liable for harassment perpetrated by an
employee. The plaintiff in the case is Ms. Vance, a catering
assistant at Ball State University, who was the only African-
American employee in her division. She alleged that she was
threatened and called racially-motivated names by her immediate
supervisors, and she suffered greatly because of it. However,
Ms. Vance lost her case against the university when the Seventh
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that for the purposes of Title
VII, supervisors only include those people who can hire and fire
employees. The individuals who haras