A California sexual harassment case was tried by a jury three times. The first time, the jury found in favor of the school district. The second time, a mistrial was declared before a verdict was rendered. The third time, the jury awarded the employee $199,399 for her sexual harassment claim. Read on for the details.
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Danielle Baez sued her former employer, Burbank Unified School District, and the district’s former chief facilities officer, Craig Jellison, for hostile work environment harassment in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
She also alleged claims against Jellison for battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. According to Baez, Jellison began pursuing her in December 2005 with the intent of engaging in an extramarital affair and then sexually assaulted her in his office in July 2006 after she rejected his advances.
In response, the school district and Jellison alleged that Baez had engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with her direct supervisor, Steve Bradley, the assistant superintendent of business, and raised the complaint of harassment against Jellison only after she became the subject of a workplace investigation into her improper conduct with Bradley.
The school district filed a cross-complaint against Baez for fraud, concealment, and implied indemnity based on her false representation that she was disabled from working between March and November 2007, and based on that representation, the district granted her a paid medical leave of absence while she secretly worked at another job.