The San Diego City Council approved a $250,000 payout to a Miramar Landfill worker on Feb. 11. Council members agreed to pay the amount to the worker after learning that she had to contend with racial discrimination and sexual harassment on the job for several years.
A lawsuit was originally filed by the plaintiff in this case in 2018. She chronicled how she was forced to work in a hostile work environment for at least three years between 2014 and 2017 in it.
It was also in that filing that she chronicled how her supervisors regularly used racial slurs when describing her fellow black employees. That same supervisor later purchased a scarf that showed a banana and a monkey for her. They also asked her if she sold drugs and hinted that individuals of her race typically do that.
That same female supervisor also reportedly showed the plaintiff several pictures of her having sexual relations with different colleagues representing different races. The plaintiff’s supervisor ultimately escalated her activity, which included being flirtatious toward and cussing at her.
The plaintiff detailed in her lawsuit how she ultimately sought out a demotion simply as a way of breaking free from the supervisor subjecting her to all of this. She contends that she made her supervisor’s bosses aware of all this, but that they didn’t take any action to address her concerns. They instead reassigned the woman’s supervisor over in her new position.
City officials launched an investigation into the woman’s concerns after she originally filed suit. They discovered that other employees had left their roles at the landfill for many of the same reasons that the plaintiff filed suit. The supervisor, a longtime city worker, ultimately resigned during this investigation.
Racial discrimination and sexual harassment are illegal both according to California and federal law. This is why you should reach out to an attorney here in San Diego if you’re being subjected to this type of ill-treatment on the job yourself. Your lawyer can provide you with experienced advice and counsel if you’ve been treated unlawfully at work.