Court reverses iron worker's $300K sexual harassment award

A federal appeals court has thrown out a $300,000 court award for an iron worker in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Boh Brothers Construction Company.

The worker won the award in 2009 after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on his behalf. He claimed his site superintendent flashed him and routinely taunted him about seeming feminine at a New Orleans area bridge project in 2006.

However, the 5th Circuit Court of appeals said there was no evidence that the worker behaved in a feminine manner or that he was a target of sexual stereotyping. Appeals court Judge Grady Jolly's opinion said sexually vulgar language was common at the site; but, Jolly wrote, it's not the business of federal courts to clean up language at construction sites.