## Facts

- Bridget O’Connor, a Marymount College social-work student, was placed at Rockland Psychiatric Center, a New York State hospital, to complete a required 200-hour senior internship.
- She worked set days and hours at Rockland, attended staff meetings, met with patients, and prepared written assignments reviewed by Rockland supervision and Marymount faculty.
- Rockland paid O’Connor no wages, salary, or employment benefits; she received federal work-study funds administered through Marymount and received academic credit/training.
- Dr. James Davis, a psychiatrist at Rockland, allegedly subjected O’Connor to repeated sexual remarks and conduct during the internship.
- After reporting the conduct, O’Connor left Rockland for a different placement.
- O’Connor sued, asserting sexual-harassment claims under Title VII and Title IX; by the time of the summary-judgment ruling, the remaining defendants were Rockland and the State of New York.

## Issues

1. Whether an unpaid student intern who receives no remuneration from the placement site is an “employee” of that site for purposes of Title VII.
2. Whether Title IX provides a cause of action against a state psychiatric hospital and the State of New York based on harassment encountered during a college-arranged internship placement.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Rockland and the State of New York.
- The court held O’Connor was not an “employee” of Rockland under Title VII because she received no direct or significant indirect remuneration from Rockland.
- The court rejected reliance on work-study funds, academic credit, and training as remuneration from Rockland.
- The court held O’Connor’s Title IX claim against Rockland and the State failed on the record presented because the required federally funded “education program or activity” relationship was not established as to those defendants.

## Legal Principles

- Title VII “employee” status requires, as a threshold matter, a showing of direct or significant indirect remuneration from the alleged employer; absent remuneration, further common-law control factors are not reached.
- An unpaid volunteer or intern who receives no compensation or employment-like benefits from the putative employer is generally outside Title VII’s coverage as an employee of that entity.
- Student financial aid administered by a college, and educational benefits such as academic credit, training, or experience, do not constitute remuneration from an external placement site for Title VII purposes.
- Title IX liability requires a sufficient connection between the plaintiff’s claim and the defendant’s federally funded education program or activity; where that connection is not shown as to the defendant, the claim fails.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit concluded that a college student’s unpaid internship at a state hospital, without remuneration from the hospital, did not create an employment relationship under Title VII, and that Title IX did not provide a basis for recovery against the hospital or the state on the evidentiary record, warranting affirmance of summary judgment for the defendants.


O’Connor v. Davis, 126 F.3d 112 (2d Cir. 1997)