"If They Hate You, They Must Hate Me Too"

On February 9, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit addressed the issue of whether alleged harassment toward African-American employees could support the claim that there was a hostile work environment for two Hispanic employees. The court concluded it could not in the particular case before it, stating that "if the evidence of the workplace environment for the employees of plaintiff's race does not show frequent, severe and pervasive hostility, then evidence of hostility towards a different racial group is not much support for the plaintiff's claim."

Thus, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a federal district court's summary judgment order in favor of the employer on two Hispanic employees' hostile work environment claims, finding the evidence of alleged harassment against the Hispanic employees insufficiently frequent, severe or pervasive. However, the Fifth Circuit noted, "whether that conclusion is always correct, we need not decide." Hernandez, et. al. v.