Employment Law Update: Fourth Circuit Reinforces Title IX Obligation to Timely Investigate and Address Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
Date: January 9, 2025
By:
Caitlin E. Tobin
In his complaint, Doe, who was a student-athlete at NC State from 2020 to 2021, alleged that Murphy sexually abused him under the guise of medical treatment. Doe later learned through two Title IX lawsuits filed against the university by other student-athletes that, in 2016, Head Soccer Coach Kelly Findley reported to Senior Associate Athletic Director Sherard Clinkscales that Murphy was engaging in what Findley suspected was “sexual grooming of male student-athletes.” Doe also alleged that the university removed Murphy as the designated athletic trainer for certain men’s teams and assigned more administrative duties in 2017 before promoting him in 2018.
Title IX imposes liability on an educational institution for the sexual harassment of its students by an employee if an appropriate official at the institution has actual notice of, and is deliberately indifferent to, that employee’s misconduct.
The district court dismissed Doe’s complaint, ruling that Doe did not sufficiently allege that the university had actual notice of Murphy’s misconduct, which is required for imputing liability to the school. In the court’s view, Findley’s 2016 report of suspected sexual grooming of male student-athletes was insufficient to establish that the university had actual notice of sexual harassment years later.
The Fourth Circuit disagreed, explaining that although actual notice requires that the school be aware of an allegation that an employee is currently harassing a student, “[c]urrently means when an allegation of sexual harassment is made — not necessarily, as the university suggests, at the time of the plaintiff’s harassment.” Doe’s allegation of the 2016 report, therefore, could plausibly plead that the university had actual notice of sexual harassment if Senior Associate Athletic Director Clinkscales, to whom the report was made, constituted an appropriate official for Title IX purposes.
This ruling reminds educational institutions of their obligation to promptly investigate and address allegations of misconduct prohibited by Title IX. Training employees to recognize and report potential misconduct is critical, as is ensuring that officials with authority to address sexual harassment complaints and institute corrective measures timely respond to such reports.
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