What's So Reasonable About Reasonableness? Rejecting a Case Law-Centered Approach to Title VII's Reasonable Belief Doctrine

Laura and her husband Jamal met while working for their employer, Octogon, Inc. Laura is white and Jamal is black. One day over lunch in the company break room, another employee, Joe Simmons, asked Laura whether she exclusively dated white guys. Laura told Joe, who is also white, that she previously had dated white men, but that she fell in love with and married Jamal. Joe responded that he would never date a black person because he “could not stand listening to them complain about slavery.” Moreover, during their conversation, he repeatedly used the word “nigger” and told Laura that he did not understand why blacks could use the word “nigger” while he could not. He assured her that he was not racist but that he “just really did not like blacks.” He said that he felt lucky that he did not have any black blood in him because if he did, he would have “to scrape that shit off.” Laura became offended and told Joe about her displeasure. Although Joe apologized, Laura thought Joe’s behavior was inappropriate and violated company policy. Octogon’s employee handbook contained prohibitions on discriminatory conduct in the workplace. The handbook provided that Octogon “did not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law” and directed employees to report “any perceived discriminatory conduct” to human