Yes and it does not end…

I will be nice about this; Shut the Hell up about how Russia and Putin screwed up your party and parade! You did it to yourself. Get off it…

Putin is superman, Okay?

WtR

Who else could ride a bear?

Just Leave North Korea Alone…

[contentcards url=”https://tradworker.org/2017/11/korean-war-ii/”]

We imposed crippling sanctions on a mountainous and rocky nation with poor soil that’s necessarily a food importer, then pitch hysterical propaganda to our own citizenry about the maniacal Kim Jong-il starving his own people. We’ve consistently said and demonstrated that we’re waiting for a single crack in their military defense infrastructure to invade and conquer their country, then mock them for their outsized military expenditures. Finally, we’ve established a clear precedent of only menacing non-aligned nations that don’t have a nuclear repellant, …then accuse the DPRK of planning to blow up the world for scrambling around in top secret mountainside tunnels to develop the one thing that can truly guarantee that they’ll be safe.

Read More…. https://tradworker.org/2017/11/korean-war-ii/

You might not like what it says, but I think it is fairly accurate…

America, please leave North Korea alone. They just want peace and quiet to live life their way, not our way…

WtR

Russian Unity Day Holiday – Nov. 4th, 2017

It was created in 2004 and celebrates the liberation of Moscow from Polish troops in 1612, led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. This event marked the end of the “time of troubles” and foreign intervention in Russia. It led to Mikhail Romanov’s accession to the throne. The event was marked by a public holiday which was celebrated in Russia on 22 October from 1649 till 1917. The name of the day is in recognition that all the classes of Russian society united to save Russia, even though there was no Tsar to lead them…

Today is a Holiday in Russia…

WtR

Boza had a rough day yesterday, lets have coffee…

Got his eyes under control this morning, but yesterday, we spent all day dealing with eye issues…

I can say weather is a major factor in his eye pressure and as the weather changes, his eyes respond and not in a good way…


My ribs are mending and I can now just start taking a medium deep breath. It got rough traversing this mountain with a cracked rib and is no piece of cake still. Mainly I have adjusted to the pain and just ignore the issue. It is how I have done all my life…. I am healing though and can feel it happening. Just wish I was young again…. Things healed faster then, but the purple fracture line is starting to fade…. Or seems to be…

Okay exercise time; Head, shoulders, knees and toes! Ouch, lets not do that again… 😉


Windows to Russia is under attack this morning. Cyber death to WtR…

Lets talk harassment from someone who knows about harassment…

Someone despises this article I did yesterday… They killing me or WtR to be exact…

Is that you Flying J?


Rand Paul has five broken ribs.… Was attacked at his home…. I feel for him, I only have one broken rib…


Saudi Arabia screaming Iran did it! Not sure how they know that they did it, but we in the Western Empire know they did it! War drums are beating, all the while our churches are being shot up… (above)


Speaking of War Drums…

[contentcards url=”https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/657148/North-Korea-War-US-Donald-Trump-Asia-Japan-Nuclear-Missile-Bombers-Warships-Kim-Jong-un”]

USA wants to love North Korea long time…. and Iraq and Syria and Venezuela and Iran and Afghanistan and and and more and…. Man, that is a bunch of war drums going on. We got the beat, baby…


Lemme at em sarge…

So he went at them and came back in a body bag. In many pieces, kinda messy actually and kinda normal for newbies…. War sucks…. A smart one once climbed a power pole and tried to kill himself, he lived, but lost a leg…. You know they gave him a honorable discharge for that? Did not know that did you?


Going to Big Village today and or maybe tomorrow. Want to check the car out again and get something interesting to eat. Svetochka is coming sometime this week?

Tomorrow I will post some images that I have taken…

Have a nice day…

WtR

Bang Bang Shoot Them Up…

[contentcards url=”http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-05/live-feed-witnesses-say-15-people-are-down-after-gunman-opens-fire-texas-church”]

The more this happens the more I think no one needs a gun; The more this happens the more I think people should own and carry guns. A typical “Catch 22 Syndrome”…

How does disarming innocent people going to stop this kind of terrorism? How does arming people stop this kind of terrorism?

Any law passed will only restrict guns of law abiding citizens, not the unlawful abiding citizen. People bent on killing will simply go around the law and purchase any weapons they desire from the same people who sell illegal drugs. People who are honest and smart will also get that gun and become felons and a criminal in Big Government eyes…. Just like a speed limit that is intentionally set too low for the road and everyone speeds, including the cops…

I think that the bottom line is; Is the American society even capable of handling weapons in all hands and can criminals be kept from getting guns?

No, to both questions and that is a quandary…

Just to have a gun does not mean you can use it. It takes lots of practice to use a small handgun, long rifle, shotgun, auto weapon and a semiautomatic weapon correctly and do serious damage and very few people I know have the ability, money and patience to spend hours practicing with their weapon. Much less the place to practice at in the big city…

Curious where the guy they say did this shooting above in the article, became so good at killing people? (Answer below in update…)

I was good at it, but I was trained intensively and am not sure if I could have done as well as this guy did. Just like the Vegas shooter. Darn, these guys are born naturals…. It takes a lot of firepower and energy to shoot dozens of people as they run and duck for cover…

Update: Does this explain how he could do it?

A LinkedIn account appearing to belong to Kelley describes him as serving in the U.S. Air Force from his 2009 high-school graduation until 2013, after which he briefly taught at a summer Bible school.

Bible School? Another quandary…. Air Force? Trained that well in weapons? Another quandary?


With a note of sarcasm; Now at least you can worry about something other than the Vegas shooting. We are number one in killing people in a church now, well at least in America, we are good at killing people in other countries, lots better than within America. What’s next? Worst killing in a school, hospital, football stadium? Gotta work harder at that killing people thing…

Stalin had an interesting quote…

Death is the solution to all problems. No man – no problem. – Attributed to Stalin in Rybakov’s novel Children of the Arbat (1987)???

See Russia did do it!

Truthfully, I am just plain tired of seeing, watching and hearing about the killing going on all the time all over the world. Why can’t we be friends?

America, you better stay home and lock the doors and windows…

WtR

Update: This below probably explains it the best…

[contentcards url=”http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-07/america-cracks-anatomy-national-nervous-breakdown”]

Moscow’s new grand strategy or is it an old strategy; or is it the plan of the game…

Whatever, it is working…

[contentcards url=”http://carnegie.ru/publications/?fa=73568″]

WtR

Lets talk harassment from someone who knows about harassment…

FLYING J INC., Petitioner, v. KYLE KEETON, Respondent.

FLYING J INC., Petitioner, v. KYLE KEETON, Respondent.

I post an argument about harassment a few weeks back. Got some nasty responses, from women, who had no idea that the article was from a man who has been through it and more. I have been pressured several times by women and threatened if I would not sleep with them. I have come out every time the loser, but I never, stayed silent and gained from sleeping with a superior…

Tuesday in the Tiny Russian Village…

I got hate hate hate and was told, “What the #$%^ do you know about harassment you are a man, you idiot!”

Alright now… Stick it up your ass people, who wanna complain about me and the harassment issue…

I have been harassed and I never, but never shut my mouth about it. I immediately did something and was fired each and every time. But I never accepted being told, “Sleep with me or be fired!”

The last time which is what the article is about above, had a huge pay increase, huge promotion to a rich district and a huge price to pay for it. I could of had the world of Flying J inc in my pocket. Instead, I said, “Sorry! No I will not sleep with you!”

Women bosses every time and I suffered for not sleeping with that woman…

Don’t ask me why I have been through this, but it made me stronger and I am reprinting it all to keep it on record…

I am a man, I have been told point blank, sleep with me or be fired! I did not ask for it to happen. I did not play games, did not dress in a miniskirt, did not push my boobs high in a tight bra and did not wiggle my ass in front of the boss. I am a man and dressed in suits and ties and I am a grouchy man to boot. Always have been and always will be…

The first time I was in the military and had a woman officer and I ended up in ten-buck-two over that one…

Somethings we are not capable of letting die and this fact below, that I was sexually harassed and fired for not sleeping with my boss, is one of those points in life that I will never let the world stop knowing about. This is the epitome of the west to me. I was in the groundbreaking writing of nationwide harassment laws and I have been involved helping dozens of woman all over the U.S. for this same issue. I fought against this type of happenings and it happens to me and the company I worked for, ignored it at first and then tried to fight it, after they found out that it really happened…

I spent years fighting against what was done to me, I was financially ruined, I was blacklisted in jobs, I was beaten by thugs, I was stabbed, I had a gun stuck in my face and the trigger pulled on an empty chamber (Told next time it would be loaded!,) I had my house burned and I had many other things done because I stood up for myself and refused to fold under the pressure. I sat in the highest court in the land and had to defend myself against a corporation. I actually was beaten senseless on the steps of the Supreme Court, before a session and the guards looked the other way. I sat in court bleeding and half out of it, while the case went on. I refused to give up and they would have to kill me before I did… (I told them that as they held me and beat me!)

Yes this case is the perfect epitome of the USA…

The Corporation against the individual and I won, albeit a small victory against a giant corporation, but I won and saved my soul from the trashing they tried to do to it…

This “writ of certiorari” below was the last and final step that I had to deal with. There was no more that they could do and change what was. Now before you tell me that I did it for the money! (Yes, I know many women get lots of money for this very same thing.) I received $15,000 and they had to pay my attorney fees. The attorneys got much more than I did…

Remember I am a guy but I have learned to put it aside for most of my waking time…

NO. 05-1550

IN THE

FLYING J INC.,

Petitioner,

v.

KYLE KEETON,

Respondent.

On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

RESPONDENT’S BRIEF IN OPPOSITION

R. GARY WINTERS GREGORY A. BECK

Counsel of Record BRIAN WOLFMAN

MCCASLIN, IMBUS PUBLIC CITIZEN LITIGATION

& MCCASLIN GROUP

632 Vine St., Ste. 900 1600 20th St., NW

Provident Bank Bldg. Washington, DC 20009

Cincinnati, OH 45202 (202) 588-1000

(513) 421-4646

Counsel for Respondent

August 2006

i

QUESTION PRESENTED

Should this Court grant, vacate, and remand the decision below for further consideration in light of the Court’s recent decision in Burlington Northern v. White, where the rationale for Petitioner’s pre-White GVR request was expressly rejected by the Court in White?

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

QUESTION PRESENTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

STATEMENT OF THE CASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

REASONS FOR DENYING THE WRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A. This Court’s Decision in Burlington Northern v. White Did Not Alter the Applicable Standard for
Title VII Harassment Claims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

B. The Court Below Properly Applied Controlling

Precedent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

iii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth,

524 U.S. 742 (1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 4, 5

Burlington Northern v. White,

126 S. Ct. 2405 (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 6, 7, 11

Hollins v. Atl. Co.,

188 F.3d 652 (6th Cir.1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Keeton v. Flying J,

429 F.3d 259 (6th Cir. 2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 2, 8, 9, 10

Kocsis v. Multi-Care Mgmt., Inc.,

97 F.3d 876 (6th Cir. 1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 9

Lawrence ex rel. Lawrence v. Chater,

516 U.S. 163 (1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Manning v. Metro. Life Ins. Co.,

127 F.3d 686 (8th Cir. 1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Mattern v. Eastman Kodak Co.,

104 F.3d 702 (5th Cir. 1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc.,

523 U.S. 75 (1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Policastro v. Nw. Airlines, Inc.,

297 F.3d 535 (6th Cir. 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Rochon v. Gonzales,

438 F.3d 1211 (D.C. Cir. 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

iv

Washington v. Ill. Dep’t of Revenue,

420 F.3d 658 (7th Cir. 2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

White v. Burlington Northern,

364 F.3d 789 (6th Cir. 2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

STATUTES

42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Flying J operates a chain of travel plazas catering to interstate travelers. Keeton v. Flying J, 429 F.3d 259, 261 (6th Cir. 2005). Respondent Kyle Keeton worked for Flying J as an associate restaurant manager assigned to the Walton, Kentucky plaza. Id. At the start of his employment, Flying J orally committed to keep Keeton at the Walton location for five years.

Id.

Keeton worked at the Walton travel plaza between June and December 2001. During that time, he was never disciplined formally or informally and was never warned that his job was in jeopardy. Id. Keeton’s immediate supervisor in Walton was Judy Harrell, the general manager of the Walton restaurant. Id.

In December 2001, Harrell began making sexual advances toward Keeton. Id. When Keeton rejected the advances, Harrell fired him, explaining, “you’re not supporting me.” Id.

Keeton complained to district manager Jamal Abdalla, who told him he could maintain his position as associate manager if he transferred to the Flying J location in Cannonsburg, Kentucky, a town 120 miles away. Id. Keeton moved to Cannonsburg, but, because his wife suffered from a debilitating back problem, she could not move with him. Id. As a result, Keeton was forced to maintain separate residences for himself and his wife. Id. at 261-62.

In January 2001, Keeton resigned. Id. at 262. He then sued Flying J under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming sexual harassment, retaliation, and constructive discharge. Id. In his sexual harassment claim, Keeton alleged both that he suffered from sexual harassment resulting in a tangible employment action and, in the alternative, that he suffered from sexual harassment resulting in a hostile work environment. Id.

2

The district court denied Flying J’s motion for summary judgment. Id. The court also denied Flying J’s motion for judgment as a matter of law after Keeton presented his case to a jury and again after Flying J presented its defense. Id. The jury returned a verdict for Keeton and awarded $15,000 in compensatory damages for emotional suffering. Id.

Importantly, the jury found Flying J liable for sexual harassment resulting in a tangible employment action, but not for retaliation or constructive discharge. Id. Because of the jury’s verdict, the jury form did not require it to decide whether Keeton had also suffered sexual harassment resulting in a hostile work environment. Id. Thus, Keeton’s claim for sexual harassment resulting in a tangible employment action is the only claim still at issue in this case.

After the verdict, Flying J renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law, and the court again denied the motion. Id.
Flying J appealed to the Sixth Circuit, arguing that a lateral transfer to a distant office could not give rise to liability for discrimination under Title VII. Id. at 263. The Sixth Circuit disagreed and upheld the jury’s verdict. Id. at 263-66. In doing so, the court applied the standard set forth by this Court in

Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742 (1998).

Keeton, 429 F.3d at 262-63. In Ellerth, the Court held that an employer would be strictly liable for sexual harassment if an employee could show that the harassment resulted in a “tangible employment action.” Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 753-54. Examining its own case law interpreting Ellerth, the Sixth Circuit determined that it had never rejected the proposition that a lateral transfer to a distant location could satisfy this test.

Keeton, 429 F.3d at 264-65. The court held that when sexual harassment results in a lateral transfer to a town 120 miles distant, a jury could reasonably find an employer liable under Title VII. Id. at 265.

3

The Sixth Circuit denied rehearing en banc, and Flying J filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in this Court. Flying J asks for a GVR to give the Sixth Circuit an opportunity to consider the Court’s recent decision in Burlington Northern v. White, 126 S. Ct. 2405 (2006). At the time the petition was filed, a decision in White was still pending, so Flying J could only assume that the decision would ultimately affect the outcome in this case. Since then, however, the Court has issued an opinion in White that distinguishes Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision from its substantive provision, holding that the two provisions have distinct language and purposes and are therefore “not coterminous.” Id. at 2414.

In its petition, Flying J makes three arguments: 1) an issue similar to the issue before the Court in White is at issue in this case, 2) there is a conflict among the courts of appeals regarding the legal standard for a tangible employment action, and 3) the Sixth Circuit’s decision in this case is contrary to Ellerth and its own precedent. With the benefit of the opinion in White, it is clear that Petitioner’s arguments are wrong.

4

REASONS FOR DENYING THE WRIT

A. This Court’s Decision in Burlington Northern v. White

Did Not Alter the Applicable Standard for Title VII Harassment Claims.

Petitioner’s first argument in favor of a GVR is that the Sixth Circuit might benefit from this Court’s decision in White. A GVR is appropriate to give a lower court the benefit of an intervening decision of this Court when the intervening decision “reveal[s] a reasonable probability that the decision below rests upon a premise that the lower court would reject if given the opportunity for further consideration, and where it appears that such a redetermination may determine the ultimate outcome of the litigation.” Lawrence ex rel. Lawrence v. Chater, 516 U.S. 163, 167 (1996). Because this Court in White dealt only with Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision, as opposed to the substantive provision at issue in this case, White has no bearing on the correctness of the decision below. In light of the Court’s opinion in White, a GVR here would serve no purpose.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employer may not “discriminate against” any individual based on that individual’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). In Ellerth, the Court surveyed decisions from the courts of appeals and found that those courts that had considered the question had found employers liable when a discriminatory act results in a “tangible employment action.” 524 U.S. at 760-61. Relying on these cases, the Court defined a tangible employment action as “a significant change in employment status, such as hiring, firing, failing to promote, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities, or a decision causing a significant change in benefits.” Id. at 761. The Court did not define the outer

5

boundaries of the substantive discrimination provision, but rather established the consequences for an employer when the provision has been violated in a sexual harassment case. Specifically, the Court held that “[w]hen a plaintiff proves that a tangible employment action resulted from a refusal to submit to a supervisor’s sexual demands, he or she establishes that the employment decision itself constitutes a change in the terms and conditions of employment that is actionable under Title VII.” Id. at 753-54.

Aside from the Act’s substantive discrimination provision, a separate anti-retaliation provision provides that an employer may not “discriminate against” an employee or job applicant because that individual “opposed any practice” that Title VII forbids or “made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in” a Title VII “investigation, proceeding, or hearing.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). Prior to White, the courts of appeals were split on the meaning of the term “discriminate against” in this provision.

White, 126 S. Ct. at 2410-11. The Sixth Circuit was one of several circuits that held “discriminate against” had the same meaning in both the substantive anti-discrimination provision, § 2000e-2(a), and the anti-retaliation provision, § 2000e-3(a).

Id. at 2410. Other circuits had adopted a more restrictive standard for retaliation claims, requiring an “ultimate employment decision” that limited actionable conduct to acts “such as hiring, granting leave, discharging, promoting, and compensating.” Mattern v. Eastman Kodak Co., 104 F.3d 702, 707 (5th Cir. 1997) (quotation omitted); see also Manning v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 127 F.3d 686, 692 (8th Cir. 1997). Still other circuits provided a looser standard, requiring a plaintiff to show only that the employer’s challenged action would have been material to a reasonable employee. Rochon v. Gonzales, 438 F.3d 1211, 1217-19 (D.C. Cir. 2006); Washington v. Ill. Dep’t of Revenue, 420 F.3d 658, 662 (7th Cir. 2005).

6

As noted above, the only claim still at issue in this case is Keeton’s claim for sexual harassment resulting in a tangible employment action under Title VII’s substantive provision, § 2000e-2(a). In contrast, the only claim at issue in White was an anti-retaliation claim under § 2000e-3(a). The question before the Court in White was, therefore, the proper standard to apply to a retaliation claim and, in particular, whether that standard was the same or different from the standard for discrimination claims set forth in Ellerth. Petitioner necessarily based its argument for a GVR on the assumption that the Court would conclude that the standards under the discrimination and retaliation provisions are the same; otherwise, this Court’s clarification of the standard under the retaliation provision would have no bearing on the correctness of the Sixth Circuit’s decision in this case.

Now that this Court has issued its decision in White, it is clear that Petitioner’s assumption was wrong. In White, the Court resolved the circuit split over the Act’s anti-retaliation provision by holding that “Title VII’s substantive provision and its anti-retaliation provision are not coterminous.” 126 S. Ct. at 2414. As the Court noted, the two provisions “differ not only in language but in purpose as well.” Id. at 2412. Although “[t]he substantive provision seeks to prevent injury to individuals based on who they are, i.e., their status,” “[t]he anti-retaliation provision seeks to prevent harm to individuals based on what they do, i.e., their conduct.” Id. Adopting the standard used by the Seventh and D.C. Circuits, the Court concluded that the retaliation provision “covers those (and only those) employer actions that would have been materially adverse to a reasonable employee or job applicant.” Id. at 2409.

7

Given the fundamental distinction between a substantive discrimination claim and a retaliation claim, the Court in White would not have had any reason to overrule or modify Ellerth’s holding on the proper standard for strict liability in substantive discrimination cases, and it did not do so. Indeed, White noted that “Ellerth did not mention Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision at all.” Id. at 2413. For this reason, nothing in White casts any doubt on the correctness of the standard applied by the Sixth Circuit in this case.1

Furthermore, White casts no doubt on the Sixth Circuit’s application of the law to the facts. The Court in White held only that a lateral transfer was sufficient to trigger the Act’s anti-retaliation provision, but gave no indication that such a transfer would fail to satisfy the more stringent requirements of Title VII’s substantive discrimination provision. Every judge on the en banc Sixth Circuit that applied the stricter standard in White found the standard satisfied there, as did Justice Alito in his concurring opinion in this Court. Id. at 2421-22 (Alito, J., concurring). Petitioner claims that lateral transfers are a mere inconvenience and a matter of personal preference that do not trigger Title VII liability, but the White majority rejected the contention that the lateral transfer in that case was a trivial harm or a minor annoyance, citing case law interpreting Title VII’s substantive discrimination provision. Id. at 2415. Thus, the decision in White is consistent with the conclusion that a lateral transfer would satisfy the standard for either a discrimination or an anti-retaliation claim. Moreover, even assuming that there were some question as to whether Title VII’s anti-

1Because White resolved the split in the circuits on the proper standard of review, Petitioner’s second argument, that there is a split regarding the proper standard, is no longer relevant.

8

discrimination provision could support a claim based on a lateral transfer, a GVR based on White would not assist the Sixth Circuit in resolving that question because, as explained above, White concerned the anti-retaliation provision. For this reason as well, the petition should be denied.

B. The Court Below Properly Applied Controlling Precedent.

Petitioner also urges this Court to issue a GVR because it contends that the decision below is contrary to both Ellerth and Sixth Circuit precedent. Ellerth, however, was decided in 1998 and is not an intervening decision that would justify a GVR in this case. Furthermore, the Sixth Circuit has already considered and rejected Petitioner’s arguments about the correct application of its precedent to the facts here.

In Ellerth, this Court held that an employer’s “tangible employment action” constitutes a change in the terms and conditions of employment that is actionable under Title VII’s substantive discrimination provision. Ellerth, 524 U.S. at 753-54. In adopting the tangible employment action standard, the Court relied on decisions from the courts of appeals, including the Sixth Circuit in Kocsis v. Multi-Care Management, Inc., 97 F.3d 876 (6th Cir. 1996). See 524 U.S. at 761. Kocsis held that a plaintiff must show “a materially adverse employment action” to demonstrate actionable conduct under Title VII. 97 F.3d at 885-86.2 Neither Ellerth nor Kocsis set forth an exhaustive list of actions that satisfy the relevant standard. Kocsis held merely

2The Sixth Circuit uses the terms “tangible employment action”

and “adverse employment action” interchangeably. Keeton, 429 F.3d

at 263 n.1.

9

that such actions might include “termination of employment, a demotion evidenced by a decrease in wage or salary, a less distinguished title, a material loss of benefits, significantly diminished material responsibilities, or other indices that might be unique to a particular situation.” Id. at 886 (quotation omitted).

Carefully examining both Ellerth and its own case law, the Sixth Circuit in this case noted that “reassignments without salary or work hour changes do not ordinarily constitute adverse employment decisions in employment discrimination claims.” Keeton, 429 F.3d at 264 (quoting Kocsis, 97 F.3d at 885). Nevertheless, the court noted that it had not precluded consideration of such factors as commuting distance or relocation, and concluded that, when sexual harassment results in a lateral transfer to a town 120 miles distant, a jury could reasonably conclude that the employee has suffered a materially adverse employment action. Id. at 265. The court found this case to be an instance where “other indices that might be unique to a particular situation” justify the jury’s finding of liability.

Id. (citing Hollins v. Atl. Co., 188 F.3d 652, 662 (6th Cir. 1999)). Because the court already fully considered both Ellerth and its own case law, a GVR would serve no useful purpose. There is nothing further for the Court to consider.

Petitioner rehashes the same arguments already considered and rejected by the Sixth Circuit below. It quotes the court’s statement in Kocsis that a change in employment conditions “must be more disruptive than a mere inconvenience or an alteration of job responsibilities” to give rise to liability under Title VII. Kocsis, 97 F.3d at 886. Relying heavily on the Sixth Circuit’s prior decision in Policastro v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 297 F.3d 535, 539 (6th Cir. 2002), Petitioner argues, as it argued in the Sixth Circuit, that a lateral transfer to a different

10

location can never constitute an adverse employment action. The Sixth Circuit, however, fully considered and rejected this argument, citing Policastro’s statement that “increased distance from home to a new position is a factor in determining whether a constructive discharge has occurred.” Keeton, 429 F.3d at 265. The court also relied on its prior decision in White, where the en banc Sixth Circuit upheld Title VII liability for a lateral transfer (albeit under a stricter standard than necessary) to a position that was dirtier, more arduous, and less prestigious than the employee’s prior position. White v. Burlington Northern, 364 F.3d 789, 803-04 (6th Cir. 2004).

Petitioner contends that “Flying J’s case involves change even more minor than the slight change in job responsibilities and prestige of White.” Pet. 16. In doing so, Petitioner minimizes the impact of the transfer—and the impact of the employer’s actions as viewed by this Court in White— stating that “[t]he only aspect of Mr. Keeton’s job that changed was that he would move to, and be working in, a different town.”

Id. 9. However, a transfer to a different town 120 miles distant (approximately the distance from Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia) is more than a mere inconvenience. An employee facing such a transfer as a result of sexual harassment would either be forced to endure the time and expense of a prolonged and arduous daily commute or else would have to uproot himself from his community to move to the new location. In this case, for example, the transfer forced Keeton to live separately from his wife. Any reasonable employee would find this situation to be a “materially adverse” change in the terms of his employment—and, thus, reasonable jurors should be entitled to find this to be the case.

Regardless of the merits of Petitioner’s arguments, it is enough that the Sixth Circuit has already fully considered and

11

rejected them. This Court has recognized that liability under Title VII is necessarily a fact-dependent inquiry. See Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75, 81-82 (1998) (“The real social impact of workplace behavior 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.”).

Cf. White, 126 S. Ct. at 2415-16. After fully considering Petitioner’s arguments, the Sixth Circuit concluded that the unique facts of the case satisfy the standard set forth in both

Ellerth and its own case law. The court has already denied en banc review, and there is no reasonable likelihood that it would reconsider its decision on remand. At most, Petitioner’s argument amounts to a claim that the Sixth Circuit incorrectly applied its own precedent. The correct application of Sixth Circuit precedent, however, is a question for that court, not this one.

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CONCLUSION

The petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied.

Respectfully Submitted,

R. Gary Winters

Counsel of Record

McCaslin, Imbus & McCaslin

632 Vine St., Ste. 900

Provident Bank Bldg.

Cincinnati, OH 45202

(513) 421-4646

Gregory A. Beck

Brian Wolfman

Public Citizen Litigation Group

1600 20th St., NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 588-7713

Counsel for Respondent

August 2006

hot-cup-of-coffeeThis was a very hard time in my life and I still do not understand how I continued until I reached the end. I even had six heart attacks during this whole thing. Why, I even had 28 weeks of chemo therapy for a brain tumor during this whole escapade in my life. I use to ask God, “Hey how about giving me a break?”

He listened and he did, but not until I finished the tasks that he set before me…

Then he sent Sveta to find me, what a good God he is and I am blessed…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

So everyone! When I say that this harassment crap going on all over the place right now is a crock of crap. I say it from experience. 40 years later and just now telling the world? Get over it and or I will tell you to have done something then. Yes your life would be and I promise will be trashed, as mine was, but hey, money is not everything and power and fame is much less than money is worth…

Yes, we have true harassment cases, I feel for those who suffer, I suffered and paid for standing up for myself. I was beaten by men from the company trying to keep me from going through with it. Just read the article. seriously just read the article and tell me that I was not harassed…

I was ostracized by society. What real man would pass up a hot babe and in power to boot?

A married man would and a man who puts his family before sex on the side…

Want to know something interesting? I ended up with $15,000, my lawyers got four times that and lots of fame and credit for a good job done. I got years of my life taken away, a housed burned, beat half to death and threatened constantly and I got to hear about how men can not be harassed. Men always like to do it!

If I had been a woman and gone through that lawsuit, I would be a millionaire. I know so, the judge told me off record and he apologized that men do not have the right to get a windfall from harassment…

OooRah… And I started my life over again…

WtR

PS: You get harassed? Do something about it then, within weeks up to a year. Not 10, 20, 30 40 and 50 years later. Otherwise shut your mouth and live with what you accepted all this time…. You had reasons to keep quiet, just like if I had, I would have been on top of the world… Power Baby Power!

If you harass someone, then you need to be strung up and left to rot and that my friend is what I think about men and or women who harass other men and women…

Yes, I have been harassed and taken it to the end, come hell or high water…

Sammy the Volga like brand new…

Got Sammy the Volga back yesterday and she drives down the road smooth as silk. No howling noise from the rear end and all past vibration is gone. I was kicking myself for destroying the Volga’s ring and pinion, but now it seems that I just hastened the demise. The rear axle it seems was just worn out. That is what 300,000 plus kilometers will do, you know…

If we had rebuilt what we had, which would have been very good to do, or drop the axle and install another axle. The latter is what we had done. An axle from a GAZ Gazelle truck was installed under her rear side and Sammy can now wiggle her butt with the best…

A blessing in disguise: GAZ Gazelle’s are almost 100% interchangeable in mechanical parts with GAZ Volga’s. Since Volga is no longer manufactured, we have to rely upon Gazelle mechanical parts… It works and is better actually. The GAZ truck is still going strong with business…

This is why Boza and I stayed an extra week in the Tiny Russian Village. Sammy had some more work too have done and we are glad that we fixed her. I am not sure how much longer the rear would have gone? A week or a year? Rear axles are tough, but…. Now she is good to go…

Like Svetochka said, “Sammy is family!” and you don’t let family suffer…


We have had Sammy the Volga for seven years now!

Meet Sammy – The Russian 310221 Volga!

Best car I have ever owned (and I have owned plenty, from a Turbo SAAB, Mercedes, Corvette, Cadillac STS and a few Lincoln Town Cars and dozens more to boot. Svetochka and Boza just think Sammy is the cats meow…. So do I and would not trade her for anything out there. Sammy is family…


Svetochka said, “If Sammy is quiet now, maybe we could get a car radio put in?” 🙂

I smiled to myself, for if Svetochka wants it, she gets it. Time to save money and get a radio put in Sammy the Volga. Really we do not have one…. Really!

I can do that work easily… So get it done then Kyle…


It is Sunday and I am not going to gripe about anything! Really?

Yes really and maybe tomorrow I will post some pictures I have taken. Oh and Svetochka’s camera died, she is grouchy and misses her camera. I hope it can be fixed easily?

Have a nice day…

WtR

Spending to, “Love you long time!”

[contentcards url=”http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-04/war-terror-costs-american-taxpayers-250-million-day”]

I guess we had nothing to spend it on in America?

WtR

That Agenda…

I watch the world and realize that everywhere are agendas. There is an agenda for this, agenda for that and agenda for everything we don’t think of. The agenda is what runs this world. The agenda is everything from wearing seat belts, speed limits, global warming, ozone depletion and to a piece of paper called money. Agendas 99% of the time involve greed…

People of all types sit down, stand up, run, walk and whatever are always thinking of agendas. Even the iPhone fanatics are on a agenda to get that new iPhone…

Agenda can be defined simply as: Things that need to get done…. These things and they are anything, almost always have a monetary base to them. Even if it is a barter system, it still is about maximizing and utilizing garnering more from something than would normally be available and or would work on its own. Nature is not under an agenda, humans work under agendas…. It is what drives us… Are we part of nature on earth? Or are we from something else?

I have an agenda with this blog…. I simply try to get a point across that you may not be thinking of. My agenda is to tell something that is important to me and or maybe you and or maybe not. But it is an agenda and garnering a bit of money to survive is part of that agenda. It takes money to produce this website. Ten years and many thousands and thousands of dollars out of my pocket. So I have multiple agendas as I write, I write to tell something, I write to make enough money to keep writing and I write to help myself control the thoughts that hound me constantly…

Writing on this site is therapy for all the years that I have done things that I knew was wrong and realized that only a squeaky wheel and or a broken record gets attention.

I’m getting old and don’t want to go at it alone. I am an American who has seen the greatest days of America and I also am seeing the worst days as they unfold. A long, long……slow burning fuse has been lit. The dynamite is waiting at the end of that fuse…

Everybody here knows that real quiet, easy going guy. One that will bend over backwards to accommodate rejects. They also know what it’s like if you happen to push him over the top…. That’s Russians right now. We are pushing a white race that is very peaceful in a general sense and when they snap it will be hell on earth…

Do we really want that? Is that the agenda?

See I talk about what bothers me!

I think about everything that happens and ask myself, “Why?”

What is the agenda and who profits from that agenda?

Really very simple, if you will just think, instead of reacting to society norms and pressure…


Government is the most dangerous institution known to man. Throughout history it has violated the rights of men more than any individual or group of individuals could do: it has killed people, enslaved them, sent them to forced labor and concentration camps, and regularly robbed and pillaged them of the fruits of their expended labor. Unlike individual criminals, government has the power to arrest and try; unlike individual criminals, it can surround and encompass a person totally, dominating every aspect of one’s life, so that one has no recourse from it but to leave the country (and in totalitarian nations even that is prohibited). — John Hospers, The Libertarian Alternative, Tibor R. Machan, editor, Chap. 1, “What is Libertarianism”, Chicago: IL, Nelson-Hall (1977) p. 12

Truth hurts populations and truth is not desired for most people. But truth is what is necessary and we have found ourselves in a world without truths. Every country, every government is the same, more or less to variance of degrees. All governments are on the same path and will end at the same destination. Just the time frames are different…

I say all the time…

Russia is just like America 50 years ago!

What is it like living in Russia?

I am not saying that we are exactly alike. I am saying the similarities are amazing, but Russia is like our past in America, not the present and future we are regulating our way to…. But “Russia is heading in the same direction as America has gone.” I say that also many times on this blog…


Agenda Definition:

[contentcards url=”http://www.dictionary.com/browse/agenda”]

Do you see agendas around you, as you work, as you play?

That my friend is one of the agendas of the agenda makers, they have an agenda to keep you busy and not care about their agenda…

Monsters will always exist. There’s one inside each of us. But an angel lives there, too. There is no more important agenda than figuring out how to slay one and nurture the other. — Jacqueline Novogratz

May we figure it out and make the right decision!

WtR