In a ruling that will strike fear into the hearts of managers everywhere, the 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals held that managers can be held individually liable for discrimination under Title VII.  Yes, that means if you’re a manager, you can be sued personally and potentially be on the hook – personally – for damages in a discrimination lawsuit brought by one of your angry subordinates.

But wait!  The 6^th Circuit’s decision in Mengelkamp v. Lake Metropolitan Housing Authority is actually an outlier.  None of the other U.S. Courts of Appeals (D.C. and 1^st through 11^th) agree – in fact, they all have specifically held that there is no individual liability for supervisors or managers under Title VII.

In my opinion, the 6^th Circuit’s decision is on pretty weak ground.  The 6^th Circuit relies on a 20-year old case, the 1993 10^th Circuit case, Sauers v. Salt Lake County, in support of its finding of individual liability.  The 10^th Circuit, however, subsequently held in the 1996 case of Haynes v. Williams that there is no individual liability under Title VII.  In so doing, it interpreted its own prior case of Sauers to stand for the “no individual liability” proposition.  So the 6^th Circuit’s interpretation of Sauers is completely at odds with the interpretation of the very court that decided Sauers.

At some point, the 6^th Circuit may figure it out and join the rest of the Circuits on this issue.  In the meantime, managers in the 6^th Circuit (which covers Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee) should continue to cower in fear, while managers everywhere else can relax – at least with regard to being sued individually under Title VII.

(Did I mention, however, that many courts have found that managers can be held individually liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act?…)