Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
E165279
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth is a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court case that defined employer liability standards for supervisor sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
All labels observed (4)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1440438 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth Context triple: [Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, precedentFor, Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth]
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A.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is a U.S. federal law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, requiring pregnant workers to be treated the same as others similar in ability or inability to work.
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B.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is a U.S. federal law that restores and strengthens workers’ ability to challenge unequal pay by resetting the statute of limitations with each discriminatory paycheck.
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C.
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon is a state agency responsible for administering employment-related services and regulations in Oregon, including unemployment insurance and workforce programs.
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D.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green is a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the key burden-shifting framework for proving employment discrimination under Title VII.
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E.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co. is a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the doctrine of disparate impact in employment discrimination law, holding that seemingly neutral job requirements that disproportionately exclude protected groups can violate Title VII.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth Target entity description: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth is a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court case that defined employer liability standards for supervisor sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
-
A.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is a U.S. federal law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, requiring pregnant workers to be treated the same as others similar in ability or inability to work.
-
B.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is a U.S. federal law that restores and strengthens workers’ ability to challenge unequal pay by resetting the statute of limitations with each discriminatory paycheck.
-
C.
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon is a state agency responsible for administering employment-related services and regulations in Oregon, including unemployment insurance and workforce programs.
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D.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green is a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the key burden-shifting framework for proving employment discrimination under Title VII.
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E.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co. is a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the doctrine of disparate impact in employment discrimination law, holding that seemingly neutral job requirements that disproportionately exclude protected groups can violate Title VII.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
employment discrimination case ⓘ sexual harassment case ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
employers covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
ⓘ
supervisor sexual harassment claims ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
civil rights law
ⓘ
labor and employment law ⓘ |
| citation | 524 U.S. 742 ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1998-06-26 ⓘ |
| dissentBy |
Justice Clarence Thomas
ⓘ
linked to:
Clarence Thomas
|
| dissentJoinedBy |
Justice Antonin Scalia
ⓘ
linked to:
Antonin Scalia
|
| docketNumber | 97-569 ⓘ |
| fullName | Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth ⓘ |
| harassmentType |
hostile work environment
ⓘ
quid pro quo sexual harassment ⓘ |
| holding |
An employer is vicariously liable under Title VII for a supervisor’s sexual harassment that results in a tangible employment action against a subordinate employee.
ⓘ
The affirmative defense requires the employer to show reasonable care to prevent and correct harassing behavior and that the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of preventive or corrective opportunities. ⓘ When no tangible employment action is taken, an employer may raise an affirmative defense to liability or damages for a supervisor’s harassment. ⓘ |
| issue | Whether an employer is liable under Title VII for a supervisor’s sexual harassment when the employee suffered no tangible job detriment but was subjected to a hostile work environment. ⓘ |
| joinedByInMajority |
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
ⓘ
linked to:
William H. Rehnquist
Justice David H. Souter ⓘ
linked to:
David H. Souter
Justice John Paul Stevens ⓘ
linked to:
John Paul Stevens
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ⓘ
linked to:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ⓘ
linked to:
Sandra Day O’Connor
Justice Stephen G. Breyer ⓘ
linked to:
Stephen G. Breyer
|
| jurisdiction | United States federal law ⓘ |
| languageOfOpinion | English ⓘ |
| legalRule |
Established a standard for employer vicarious liability for supervisor sexual harassment under Title VII.
ⓘ
Recognized an affirmative defense for employers in supervisor harassment cases without tangible employment action. ⓘ |
| legalSubject |
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
ⓘ
employer liability ⓘ employment discrimination law ⓘ sexual harassment law ⓘ vicarious liability ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy |
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
ⓘ
linked to:
Anthony M. Kennedy
|
| originatingCourt | United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ⓘ |
| petitioner | Burlington Industries, Inc. ⓘ |
| relatedCase | Faragher v. City of Boca Raton ⓘ |
| relatedDoctrine |
Ellerth–Faragher affirmative defense
ⓘ
linked to:
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
|
| respondent | Kimberly Ellerth ⓘ |
| result | Judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit was affirmed in part and reversed in part. ⓘ |
| shortName |
Burlington v. Ellerth
ⓘ
linked to:
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
|
| statuteInterpreted | Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1998 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth Description of subject: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth is a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court case that defined employer liability standards for supervisor sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Referenced by (9)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
linked to: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
Kimberly Ellerth
→
associatedCourtDecision
→
U.S. Supreme Court decision in Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
ⓘ
linked to: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
→
keySupremeCourtCase
→
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
ⓘ
subject linked to:
Title VII
subject linked to:
Beth Ann Faragher