A recent constructive discharge decision from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania involving the use of the N-word highlights the importance of “factual nuances and context” in employment discrimination cases, see Hite v. Manor Junior College, Case No. 17-CV-131 (GAM) (E.D. Pa. Mar. 29, 2018) (McHugh, J.). The court relied on a host of prior cases to emphasize just how much context matters, particularly in issues involving race. The real social impact of workplace behavior, the court wrote, often depends on a constellation of surrounding circumstances, expectations, and relationships which are not fully captured by a simple recitation of the words used or the physical acts performed, (citing Burlington North & Santa Fe Railroad v. White, 548 U.S. 53, 69 (2006)).

The context in this particular case involves plaintiff, Deborah Hite, who worked as an admissions counselor for defendant Manor College for about eight months. Hite resigned claiming she was subjected to a hostile work environment, racially based disparate treatment, and retaliation by Manor College and her supervisor, defendant John Dempster. The gravamen of her complaint is that she was the only African-American woman in her department and felt that she was resented from the moment she began the job because she was paid more than her white colleagues. Her supervisor, defendant Dempster, insinuated that Hite was hired based on her race, rather than on merit. In an email with Manor’s human resources director, Dempster wrote that Hite had been hired because Manor “needed an African-American woman in the office.”