In the late 1980s, Palm Beach County NOW was actively organizing around sexual violence and workplace harassment. After a reported rape at a public beach in Boca Raton in 1989, the chapter organized a “Take Back the Beach” protest to call attention to violence against women and unsafe conditions in public spaces. During that action, a male lifeguard approached NOW members to share concerns about the sexual harassment of female lifeguards within the City of Boca Raton’s lifeguard department.

Shortly afterward, two lifeguards, including Beth Ann Faragher, attended a NOW program on sexual harassment featuring employment rights attorneys Bill and Karen Amlong. Although they were not scheduled speakers, they spoke from the audience about the hostile work environment they were experiencing. Through those connections, they were put in contact with legal representation that would eventually take the case forward.

Faragher filed suit against the City of Boca Raton, and the case ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court as Faragher v. City of Boca Raton.

In 1998, the Court ruled that employers can be held vicariously liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for sexual harassment committed by supervisors that creates a hostile work environment. The decision established that employers have an affirmative duty to prevent and correct harassment and clarified when they can and cannot avoid liability. This ruling became one of the foundational precedents governing workplace sexual harassment law in the United States.

Palm Beach County NOW did not litigate the case before the Supreme Court. However, the chapter’s local organizing played a meaningful role in creating the space where survivors were heard, believed, and connected to attorneys willing to take action. The educational programming, protest organizing, and direct advocacy of chapter members helped move the issue from silence to accountability.

Faragher later attended Florida Atlantic University, went on to law school, worked as a public defender in Colorado, and now serves as a judge in Denver.

This Women’s History Month, we recognize how individual acts of courage can reshape national law. What began as women speaking openly about harassment in their workplace became a Supreme Court decision that clarified employer responsibility across the country.