Can A Single Incident That The Plaintiff Doesn't Witness Create A Hostile Work Environment?

A single incident, like a supervisor calling a black employee the "n" word, may be enough to create a hostile work environment. But what if the victim doesn't witness it?

For example, in a recent federal court decision, the plaintiff, a black man, testified in his deposition that his supervisor had referred to the plaintiff as a "stupid [expletive] [n-word]" to one of the plaintiff's coworkers. Later, that coworker told the plaintiff about it. Is that single incident outside of the plaintiff's presence severe enough to create a hostile work environment for him?

The "n"-word is bad. Very bad. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has described the racial epithet as "a term that sums up . . . all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America, [a] pure anathema to African-Americans, [and] probably the most offensive word in English." It added that "[p]erhaps no single act can more quickly alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment