For workplace harassment to be illegal or unlawful under Kentucky and federal employment laws it must be proven to be motivated by some discriminatory criteria such as sex or gender. Recently, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in EEOC v. Central Wholesalers, No 08-1181 (July 21, 2009), described workplace where the harassment could be found to be motivated by sex or gender discrimination:
"The evidence shows that oneor more of Medley's co-workers used the word b***h on a daily basis when referring to women, had Playboy items around the office, watched pornography right next to Medley such that she could hear the sounds of people having sex, and used a pornographic screen-saver depicting partially naked women. Moreover, DaBay called Medley a b***h a number of times during the November 10 incident. In light of this evidence, a reasonable jury could conclude that the harassment was based on Medley's gender."
