The company’s marketing coordinator Angela Robinson says employers should consider playing motivational music at work because “sometimes internal drive falters, and music is a quick way for workers to regain energy and passion.”Yes, but. In an opinion written by San Diego-based Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, the court concluded that persistently played denigrating music, as with other “auditory offenses,” may constitute an unlawful hostile work environment. Playing the music therefore was not the kind of severe or pervasive misconduct that may constitute hostile environment sexual harassment. The appellate court, said Judge McKeown, was not passing judgment on the appropriateness of music in the workplace or labeling any particular music genre misogynistic. A steady stream of sexually demeaning language may create an unlawful hostile work environment.
