Male boss says he’d rather work with men than women any day

The scenario After a woman completed six months of training for a new job, she was assigned to a female supervisor who didn’t treat her very well. The woman said her new boss bullied her in front of her coworkers every day.

The woman said her female boss also ridiculed her personal appearance, laughed at her hair and let her know that she looked sick.

When the female crew member told a senior-level male supervisor about the unwelcome conduct, he dismissed her complaint, saying it was a she-said, she-said situation. He also said he’d rather work with men than women any day.

The male supervisor suggested that the two women go to the basement and “hash it out.” In addition, he stated that the conflict between the two female employees was just “women being nasty.”

Other times, the male supervisor said there were too many women in the department, that the women were too vocal and that female staffers had big personalities.

Following her complaint about her female boss, the woman was demoted and offered a lower salary. She refused the reassignment and quit the job.

Legal challenge: The woman sued for sex discrimination.

The ruling: The employer lost. The court said the worker might have been demoted because of her gender, citing the employer’s failure to investigate her complaint about her female boss as well as the sexist comments made by the male supervisor.

The skinny: Supervisors who respond to an employee’s legitimate complaint by making discriminatory comments are unlikely to successfully address the worker’s concerns. Plus, they’re risking a costly bias lawsuit.

Cite: Mikesh v. County of Ulster, Supreme Court of New York, No. 23-cv-2185, 4/3/25.

(From the April 25, 2025, issue of HR Managers Legal Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)