Were she not to quit, but continue to endure her manager's continued inappropriate attention it would quickly rise to the level that could trigger anti-harassment policies or legislation.
Unwanted attention from an employer need not be sexually motivated to be inappropriate. Every jurisdiction in the USA has state labor law to address instances of employee harassment and workplace violence, with no regard to motivation. He is setting his company up for a lawsuit. A manager cannot continue to pick at something just because s/he doesn't like it. The employee's observation that if they want more flair, to change the amount required is sound. The fact that she demonstrated that she meets the current stated requirement should be enough to stop the attention she was receiving. That it did not becomes the basis for a complaint.
There is abundant case law that supports an employee's right not to be subjected to harassment in the workplace. Remember, motivation is not the test, the test is was the attention reasonable and justified in the circumstance? If not then it is wrong and actionable. In such instances an employee will sue and will win. This is a very mature and well-developed area of human resource policy.
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