Darrell Eugene Clark, et al. v. City of Alexandria, Louisiana, et al.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination affecting the “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” because of an individual’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). This Court recently held in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, et al., 601 U.S. ___ (2024), that, Title VII plaintiffs alleging discriminatory transfer need only show “some injury” to their terms or conditions of employment rather than meeting a “significant harm” threshold. While Muldrow rejected judicially-created heightened harm requirements in the transfer context, courts continue to require that workplace harassment be “severe or pervasive” to constitute an actionable hostile work environment claim under Title VII. The question presented is: Whether a hostile work environment claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) requires proof that harassment was “severe or pervasive”—a standard not found in the text—when this court’s recent decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis holds that this provision requires only that discrimination cause “some injury” to the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.