A state appeals panel has vacated the ruling of a Cook County judge, saying it was improper to grant a quick win to the owners of Rivers Casino in a lawsuit from a female worker who alleged her employer didn’t do enough to prevent sexual harassment from gaming floor patrons.
Laura Wong sued her employer, Midwest Gaming & Entertainment, operators of Rivers Casino, claiming the company violated the Illinois Human Rights Act. After Cook County District Court Judge Michal Otto granted summary judgment to the company, Wong challenged the outcome before the Illinois First District Appellate Court. Justice Carl Walker wrote the panel’s opinion, filed March 31; Justices Sharon Oden Johnson and Sanjay Tailor concurred.
Wong worked at the Des Plaines casino as a drink server starting in February 2015. Her complaint cited the employee handbook’s policies regarding harassment and discrimination, in part a ban on harassment “by another team member, supervisor/manager or third party for any reason.”
Wong’s job duties occasionally included staffing the beer tub, a standalone serving station in the middle of the casino floor, a position that helped accommodate a wrist injury. She cited a July 2018 incident when a male customer approached a part of the tub reserved for workers and made a romantic advance.
“The customer did not touch Wong, but she thought his conduct was offensive and made her uncomfortable,” Walker wrote. A supervisor asked the patron to leave, then placed a garbage can to block further customer access. The next day Wong asked her direct supervisor to put a retractable belt barrier in that area, but the supervisor made alternative suggestions. Ultimately staff made no changes and that night more customers allegedly came in behind the beer tub.
The next week two more customers walked around the tub. Wong alleged both men hugged her, making her uncomfortable, with one making a verbal advance. She reported the incident to a different supervisor. A day later another male customer walked around the tub, hugging and kissing Wong on the cheek. A different customer later pinched her hip. Wong reported the kiss to Rivers security, who identified the customer on surveillance footage and sent a report to human resources.
According to court records, Rivers staff differed with Wong about whether she should identify problem customers and have them evicted or suspended from entering and insisted using the garbage can as a blockade wasn’t the appropriate way to deal with customer harassment. Rivers said it did identify the kisser and ultimately suspended him for a year, although Wong alleged he returned before that year ended without being arrested. Wong resigned from Rivers in December 2019 and filed her lawsuit in January 2020.
“I cannot see any reasonable jury concluding that Rivers acted unreasonably by taking eight days to put a permanent solution in place once there had been more than one incident,” Judge Otto said in granting summary judgment. “I don't see an issue of fact on reasonableness, although I will note it is true that ordinarily reasonableness of corrective action being something more of a judgment call is often an issue for the jury. That is true. Here, given the undisputed facts, I believe that there is only one result that can reasonably be reached.”
On appeal, the panel disagreed, saying a jury could plausibly agree with Wong’s version of events, and that because she alleged third-party harassment the only debate is whether the employer is liable for the customers’ conduct through a failure to implement reasonable corrective measures.
Justice Walker noted Wong said Judge Otto’s ruling was improper because her complaint contained sufficient allegations of a cumulation of customer harassment to bolster her claim of a hostile work environment under third-party liability. She further alleged Rivers failed to promptly implement the type of corrective measures that would prevent the harassment, and the question of whether those measures were sufficient should be decided at trial, not in proceedings requesting summary judgment.
“Wong alleged five separate incidents of sexual harassment that occurred over the course of eight days,” Walker wrote. “Three of those incidents involve some form of physical contact, including a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and Wong’s waist being pinched. Each incident that Wong alleged involved different male customers. Rivers responded by placing a garbage can around the beer tub to block off customers, and Rivers set permanent stanchions around all the beer tubs after the July 13th incident.”
Wong is represented by attorneys from the firm of Hurley McKenna & Mertz, of Chicago.
The Barrington firm of Jackson Lewis represents Midwest Gaming.