Inviting Employees To Lunch Isn’t Harassment, Texas High Court Rules

Texas’s highest court reversed an appeals court that had affirmed a nearly $1 million verdict for a San Antonio Water System employee who claimed retaliation after she lost her job. According to the employee, her discharge was related to the fact that she confronted a male executive who invited female employees to lunch. The defense claimed that it was merely downsizing. The plaintiff’s claim failed, the high court said, because she lacked a reasonable, good-faith belief that she was engaging in protected activity under the state’s human rights act when she complained.