Job-Supervisor Harassment Suits Limited by High Court

U.S. Supreme Court put new limits on lawsuits claiming on-the-job harassment, throwing out a case filed by a black catering worker who said a colleague slapped her and used racial epithets. The justices, voting 5-4, said the alleged harasser didn’t qualify as Maetta Vance’s supervisor, a status that would make it easier for the worker at Muncie, Indiana-based Ball State University to win her case. In a second 5-4 ruling, the court made it harder for workers to win claims that their employer retaliated against them for complaining about discrimination.