The United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit ruled that if an action isn’t based or motivated by a person’s sex, than it may not be considered sexual harassment.

Loretta Rester was a graphic designer for the Hot Springs Village Voice, an Arkansas newspaper owned by Stephens Media.  At one point, Rester got into a heated argument with her supervisor William Elderton over a project.  During this argument, Elderton “slammed his hands on the desk and began screaming and cursing at her,” as per court documents.  When Rester tried to leave and remove herself from the situation, “Elderton put his hands on her three times, and physically prevented her from leaving until she began ‘wailing and cursing and screaming and hollering.’”

Not long after the altercation, Rester filed suit against Stephens Media claiming she was the victim of sexual discrimination and citing that the company forced her to work in an environment that was nothing less than hostile.  Stephens Media requested to have the claim thrown out.

The company prevailed on both counts and the court decided to toss Rester’s lawsuit.  The court decided that in order to prevail on sexual discrimination claims Rester would have to prove that she suffered some kind of adverse employment action and that she was treated differently than other employees.

The court said that “Rester suffered no termination, did not lose pay or benefits, and her job duties or responsibilities did not change. Thus, she cannot establish a prima facie case of gender discrimination.”

In order for Rester to prove that she worked in a hostile environment she would have to prove that there was an occurrence of unwanted sexual harassment, that the harassment occurred because of her sex and that the harassment affected a term or condition of her employment.  Ultimately, the court said that the incident related more to a work disagreement and did not relate to a sexual discrimination claim.

While it may not be 100% professional to get into a workplace disagreement to this extent, it isn’t illegal either.  In the words of the court, in order for a work environment to be deemed “hostile,” there must be “extreme” conduct “rather than merely rude or unpleasant” conduct.