Could music be contributing to a toxic work environment?

A US federal court is allowing a lawsuit brought forward by warehouse workers who say their workplace has become ‘more hostile’ as a direct result of music. Could our favourite artists be causing problems in our offices?

Raunchy, explicit, or misogynistic music could be an illegal workplace practice, a US appeals court has said.

Eight former employees of S&S Activewear in Nevada have been allowed to move forward with a lawsuit against the company for playing explicit music during work hours. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a previous motion to dismiss the case by Chief US District Judge Miranda Du.

In the suit, the eight employees allege that powerful speakers were placed across S&S Activewear’s 700,000-square-foot warehouse and routinely played ‘sexually graphic and violently misogynistic’ music. Two songs mentioned specifically are ‘Stan’ by Eminem and ‘Blowjob Betty’ by Too Short.

Speakers were placed on forklifts and transported around the warehouse, according to the suit, making it difficult to avoid the music and its detrimental effects on the workplace environment.

Judge M. Margaret McKeown, a Senior Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals, noted that the music could have served as a catalyst for hostile work relations and sexist behaviour. The suit says that male employees ‘frequently pantomimed sexually graphic gestures, yelled obscenities, made sexually explicit remarks, and openly shared pornographic videos.’

S&S Activewear is a clothing distributor for big brands, including Adidas and American Apparel. The suit claims that supervisors for the company ignored complaints from both male and female employees at the facility.

Mark Mausert, a lawyer representing the employees, said that ‘hip-hop songs are rife with misogynistic terms’ that ‘often cause workers, usually men, to segue into other forms of sexual harassment.’

According to the suit, complaints were submitted ‘almost daily,’ with management defending the music choices and referring to them as ‘motivational.’