Two hospital orderlies claim that hanging nooses were placed in their workplace and that they were subjected to racial epithets in a racial hostile work environment and harassment lawsuit. Elijah Crawford and Ishmael Cox claim that an anesthesiologist, Dr. Charles Militana, and a surgical technician, Mario Nistico, were responsible for the hostile work environment at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York. Crawford and Cox have been employed at the hospital for over 16 years.
Source: New York Daily News
To be unlawful a hostile work environment must be motivated by or rooted in some factor such as a person's race, age, gender of some other similar criteria.
Although some judges have difficulty accepting and applying the rule, the Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that "whether a work environment is hostile is determined on the totality of the circumstances and juries should not be encouraged to disaggregate individual circumstances.” Lumpkins v. City of Louisville, 157 SW3d 601 (Ky 2005).
