Record v. Hannaford Bros. Co., LLC, 1:19-cv-00034

Background

Plaintiff Timothy Record worked at Hannaford nearly ten years and was assistant seafood manager at the Hampton store when, in March 2017, new meat manager Bruce Grover began supervising him. Record is openly gay and coworkers knew his sexual orientation.
Early in Grover’s tenure he made repeated sexually derogatory comments and gestures toward Record and twice struck Record in the genitals with a loaf of bread; Grover later admitted the conduct and apologized.
Record reported the March incidents to managers (Jeff Howard and Ashley Campo); managers verbally admonished Grover, considered the matter resolved, but did not place written documentation in Grover’s personnel file as Record expected under Hannaford’s harassment policy.
Grover’s allegedly offensive conduct continued through August 2017 (name-calling with effeminate inflection and suggestive gestures). Record resigned effective September 1, 2017, then explored returning to Hannaford but ultimately took other employment.
Record also alleges disparate treatment because Hannaford placed a written coaching memo in Record’s file for a separate alleged incident (which he denies) while failing to document Grover’s admitted misconduct.
Procedural posture: Hannaford moved for summary judgment on hostile-work-environment and constructive-discharge (wrongful termination) claims; the court denied summary judgment, finding genuine disputes of material fact for a jury.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether harassment was sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a hostile work environment	Grover’s repeated sexual comments, physical contact to genitals, and degrading gestures over several months created an abusive environment	Incidents were isolated/informal joking not severe or pervasive enough to alter conditions of employment	Denied — factual disputes remain for a jury
Whether the conduct was objectively and subjectively offensive	Record perceived the conduct as hostile; a reasonable person would find physical contact and lewd gestures offensive	The conduct was joking; Record’s later attempts to return undercut claim he found it intolerable	Denied — a reasonable jury could find the conduct objectively and subjectively offensive
Employer liability under Faragher–Ellerth (reasonable prevention/correction)	Hannaford’s response (verbal admonition, no documentation) was insufficient given Grover was a new hire and had admitted the conduct; disparate discipline undermines reasonableness	Hannaford had an anti-harassment policy, training, and managers who addressed the complaints promptly	Denied — reasonableness of employer’s prevention/correction is a jury question
Constructive discharge (wrongful termination) — whether resignation was objectively reasonable	Working conditions were so intolerable a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign after repeated harassment and inadequate remediation	Resignation was unreasonable; employer did attempt to investigate and offered options to retain Record	Denied — factual disputes preclude summary judgment

Key Cases Cited

Ponte v. Steelcase Inc., 741 F.3d 310 (1st Cir.) (hostile-work-environment elements under Title VII)
Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101 (2002) (factors for assessing harassment severity and pervasiveness)
Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17 (1993) (objective/subjective offensiveness standard)
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998) (employer affirmative defense and liability for supervisor harassment)
Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742 (1998) (Faragher–Ellerth framework for employer liability)
Chaloult v. Interstate Brands Corp., 540 F.3d 64 (1st Cir.) (application of employer affirmative defense)
Reed v. MBNA Mktg. Sys., Inc., 333 F.3d 27 (1st Cir.) (reasonableness under employer affirmative defense is typically for the jury)
Rivera-Rivera v. Medina & Medina, Inc., 898 F.3d 77 (1st Cir.) (jury’s role in weighing harassment factors)