## Facts

- Globe Furniture Rentals, Inc. employed a Black salesperson in an expressly at-will relationship at a furniture store.
- Globe issued several written performance warnings to the salesperson before terminating her employment.
- The salesperson claimed racial harassment, alleging she overheard the company president make a racially insensitive comment during a telephone call purportedly on speaker.
- Globe disputed the account and presented testimony that the store’s telephone system lacked a speakerphone function.
- The salesperson claimed sexual harassment and a hostile environment based on pervasive sexual jokes and pornographic material.
- The evidence supporting the harassment allegations primarily consisted of testimony from the salesperson and two other former employees whom Globe had terminated.
- Globe characterized the alleged “pornographic” items as commonly available but tasteless postcards and contended the salesperson had not complained about them before her discharge.

## Issues

1. Whether the salesperson proved that Globe subjected her to race-based and/or sex-based harassment creating a hostile work environment.
2. Whether the salesperson proved her discharge was motivated by discrimination rather than documented performance problems.
3. How an arbitrator should weigh conflicting testimony where the employee’s proof rests mainly on testimony from terminated employees and the employer offers documentary performance records.

## Decision

- The arbitrator ruled for Globe and denied the salesperson’s claims.
- The arbitrator found the salesperson did not meet her burden to prove racial or sexual harassment or discriminatory discharge.
- The arbitrator credited Globe’s documentary and witness evidence of performance-based reasons for termination.
- The arbitrator discounted key portions of the salesperson’s account based on perceived implausibility or contradiction (including the asserted speakerphone basis for overhearing the racial remark).
- The arbitrator treated the testimony of the salesperson and her supporting witnesses (all former employees) as less reliable due to their termination status.

## Legal Principles

- In labor arbitration discrimination and harassment claims, the grievant bears the burden of proving harassment and discriminatory motive by sufficient, credible evidence.
- An arbitrator may consider corroboration, contemporaneous reporting, and documentary records when assessing whether alleged conduct was severe or pervasive enough to constitute a hostile work environment.
- Documentary evidence of progressive discipline and performance warnings can support a non-discriminatory rationale for discharge if credited as bona fide.
- Credibility findings can be outcome-determinative; the award reflects an approach that treats terminated-employee testimony as presumptively suspect, which later commentary criticizes as inconsistent with neutral fact-finding.

## Conclusion

The arbitration award rejected claims of racial and sexual harassment and discriminatory termination, finding the employee’s proof insufficient and crediting the employer’s documented performance-based explanation, with credibility determinations central to the outcome.


Globe Furniture Rentals, 105 Lab. Arb. Rep. 888 (1995)