The following excerpt is from Davidson v. Korman, CIV. NO. S-10-2502 FCD GGH PS (E.D. Cal. 2010):
However, a "reasonable belief" does not equate to any subjective relief however strained, or however sensitive the hearer may be. Title VII requires a bit of objectivity in that the belief must be reasonable, i.e., could the reasonable person have formed a belief that such comments rose to the level of creating a hostile environment. A hostile environment is one so "'severe or pervasive' as to "'alter the conditions of [the victim's] employment and create an abusive working environment.'" Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 786, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 2283 (1998). "'([M]ere utterance of an ethnic or racial epithet which engenders offensive feeling in an employee' would not sufficiently alter terms and conditions of employment to violate Title VII)." Id. at 787. "'[A] lack of racial sensitivity does not, alone, amount to actionable harassment." Id.
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