VII Before IX: Continuing Saga in Harassment Claim Preemption

Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, part of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, reaffirmed a growing circuit split regarding whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 preempts concurrent claims raised under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. In Sara Slabisak v. Univ. of Tex. Health Sci. Ctr. at Tyler & Good Shepherd Med. Ctr., No. 4:17-cv-597, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30884 (E.D. Tex., Feb. 27, 2018), Judge Amos Mazzant dismissed a former medical resident’s Title IX claims of sexual harassment and retaliation against the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler on the grounds that Title VII is the exclusive remedy for claims of employment discrimination on the basis of sex in a federally funded educational institutions. While consistent with precedent in the Fifth and Seventh Circuits, the decision stands at odds with prior decisions in the First, Third and Fourth Circuits holding that employees of institutions subject to both Title VII and Title IX may raise such claims under whichever statutory scheme they choose.

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