News Notes: California Supreme Court Lets Stand $355,000 Award To Worker Who Revealed She Was Gay

The state high court has refused to throw out a $355,200 damage award to a lesbian employee who claimed she was fired after confiding to her boss she was gay. Jan Overholtzer worked for 18 years in the West Contra Costa Unified School District print shop. She said she revealed her sexual orientation to her boss while trying to console him after he read a magazine article about his brother, a gay man with AIDS. After the conversation, her boss allegedly told her she would no longer be considered a supervisor, moved her desk away from the building’s public entrance, and humiliated her in front of co-workers. She said the intolerable conditions at work led her to abuse drugs and alcohol, eventually causing her to be hospitalized for depression. Although there was a dispute over whether Overholtzer was fired or forced to quit, she sued her employer for sexual orientation discrimination. The school district contended Overholtzer lost her job for using drugs and drinking on the job, but the jury disagreed.