Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court holds that there is no cause of action for non-workplace alleged sexual harassment pursuant to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

The Commonwealth Court reviewed a decision from the Court of Common Pleas that sustained the defendant's preliminary objections and dismissed the plaintiff's complaint. The plaintiff filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission after a police officer began harassing her by driving by her house and calling her during the middle of the night. When the plaintiff complained to the borough, the complaints were assigned to the officer alleged to have harassed her. After the plaintiff was provided with a right-to-sue letter, she initiated the action in court. In response, the defendant filed preliminary objections, arguing that there was no cause of action for non-workplace sexual harassment pursuant to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. In upholding the dismissal of the plaintiff's claim, the court noted that Pennsylvania courts may use federal court decisions interpreting parallel federal statutes as persuasive authority and that the public accommodations provision of Title VII has not been interpreted as applying to sexual harassment or sexual discrimination claims. In addition, the court reasoned that if the General Assembly intended for discrimination, based on sex, to include non-workplace sexual harassment in the context of public accommodation, it could have included specific language in the Act.

Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2012