Sexual Harassment

The first of several lawsuits filed against Burbank by current and former police officials went to trial this week, with the attorney for an ex-deputy police chief calling what took place in the department one of the most “egregious” cases of mistreatment he's ever seen. In his lawsuit against the city, William Taylor alleges that he was demoted and eventually fired because he informed city officials and former Police Chief Tim Stehr about concerns of discrimination and sexual harassment, and because he pressed for an outside investigation into a burglary that allegedly took place in police headquarters.

BURBANK — An administrative secretary on leave from her post at the Burbank Unified School District has filed a lawsuit for an unspecified amount of money against the district, accusing Senior Facilities Director Craig Jellison of sexual harassment. Danielle Baez alleges in her complaint, filed June 1 in Los Angeles Superior Court, that Jellison repeatedly sent her sexually explicit e-mails beginning in December 2005. Baez also alleges that Jellison sexually assaulted her in the district's facilities building in late July 2006, locking her in his office and making unwanted advances.

BURBANK — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge decided Wednesday she needed more time to make a ruling on a request from Burbank Unified School District lawyers to strike a sexual harassment lawsuit against the district and its senior director of facilities. Judge Joanne O’Donnell is expected to deliver the ruling in the next 10 to 14 days, said Victor L. George, lawyer for Danielle Baez, the secretary at the district who filed the lawsuit June 1. In response to the sexual harassment suit against the district and director of facilities Craig Jellison, the district’s attorney, Nancy P. Doumanian, filed a motion in late September in Los Angeles County Superior Court to strike the complaint, calling it frivolous.

BURBANK — In response to a district administrative secretary’s sexual harassment lawsuit against the Burbank Unified School District and its director of facilities, the district’s attorney has filed a motion in Los Angeles County Superior Court to strike the complaint, calling it frivolous. “The complaint as a whole . . .amounts to a ‘frivolous pleading’ . . . given that the allegations contained therein are totally and completely without merit,” according to the motion, which school district attorney Nancy P. Doumanian filed Friday.

The attorney for a former Burbank deputy police chief who claims he was fired because he complained about internal issues questioned the validity Thursday of an outside investigator's report that played a role in his client's termination. The former deputy, William Taylor, alleges that he was demoted and then fired in retaliation for expressing concerns about racial discrimination and sexual harassment. His lawsuit, which was being heard this week, is the first of several filed after the Porto's Bakery and Cafe robbery in 2007 to go before a jury.

Score one for the ladies. Sexual harassment lawsuits are alive and well in California. This is the story of Carol Christopher, Julie Bhend, and Carmella Chamara, who alleged they were harassed by their boss, Thomas Harvey, while working at the National Education Assn. Apparently Harvey spent a good bit of his time physically intimidating female employees, not to mention screaming at them. Fortunately for the women they had an independent witness in that one of the male employees of the company was able to corroborate their claims.

For various reasons, some local police departments can get into trouble. Burbank is basically working to get an “OK” in regard to its efforts at correcting some problems related to alleged discrimination, sexual harassment and excessive use of force (“Police seek best-practices endorsement to restore public confidence,” Jan. 25). In addition to seeking national accreditation, they are dealing with outside probes and reviews, and there is a cost factor. I think the almighty question is: how did we get involved in this mess?

A jury this week sided with former Deputy Police Chief William Taylor to the tune of nearly $1.3 million, siding with his claims that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to sign off on the terminations of minority officers. In his 2009 lawsuit, Taylor also said he was retaliated against for raising concerns about how a sexual harassment incident was being handled. Late Monday afternoon, jurors awarded $1.29 million, with $250,000 of that awarded for pain and suffering, his attorney Gregory Smith said.

Ryan Carter BURBANK -- A trio of city employees suing the city for job discrimination and wrongful termination must amend portions of their claim, a Los Angeles Superior Coury judge has ruled. In his order, issued last week, Judge William Highberger asked attorneys for Tina Staffon, Richard Benson and Beverly Starleaf to amend their claims of age and disability discrimination, job retaliation, gender discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful discharge.

CITY HALL — Four days after the city released a statement calling the latest lawsuit filed against its Police Department “baseless and disingenuous,” Mayor Gary Bric on Tuesday said the FBI was investigating allegations of misconduct within the ranks. He also announced that the Burbank Police Department was being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which was to turn over its findings to the county district attorney’s office, and that the city had brought in its own outside attorney to review the allegations.

A jury on Thursday awarded an Armenian American police detective $150,000 for claims that he faced on-the-job discrimination and harassment because of his ethnicity, his attorney said. The detective who filed the lawsuit, Steve Karagiosian, testified in Los Angeles County Superior Court that detectives and sergeants in the Police Department regularly used derogatory terms - such as “towel heads” - in referring to Armenians. The decision comes two weeks after a jury awarded former Burbank Police Deputy Chief William Taylor nearly $1.3 million based on claims that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to sign off on the terminations of minority officers, and for raising concerns about how a sexual harassment incident was being handled.

A jury today awarded an Armenian American police detective $150,000 for claims that he faced on-the-job discrimination and harassment because of his ethnicity, his attorney said. The detective who filed the lawsuit, Steve Karagiosian, testified in Los Angeles County Superior Court that detectives and sergeants in the police department regularly used derogative terms - such as “towel heads” - in referring to Armenians. The decision comes two weeks after a jury awarded former Burbank Police Deputy Chief William Taylor nearly $1.3 million based on claims that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to sign off on the terminations of minority officers and for raising concerns about how a sexual harassment incident was being handled.

A jury this week sided with former Deputy Police Chief William Taylor to the tune of nearly $1.3 million, siding with his claims that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to sign off on the terminations of minority officers. In his 2009 lawsuit, Taylor also said he was retaliated against for raising concerns about how a sexual harassment incident was being handled. Late Monday afternoon, jurors awarded $1.29 million, with $250,000 of that awarded for pain and suffering, his attorney Gregory Smith said.

The attorney for a former Burbank deputy police chief who claims he was fired because he complained about internal issues questioned the validity Thursday of an outside investigator's report that played a role in his client's termination. The former deputy, William Taylor, alleges that he was demoted and then fired in retaliation for expressing concerns about racial discrimination and sexual harassment. His lawsuit, which was being heard this week, is the first of several filed after the Porto's Bakery and Cafe robbery in 2007 to go before a jury.

The first of several lawsuits filed against Burbank by current and former police officials went to trial this week, with the attorney for an ex-deputy police chief calling what took place in the department one of the most “egregious” cases of mistreatment he's ever seen. In his lawsuit against the city, William Taylor alleges that he was demoted and eventually fired because he informed city officials and former Police Chief Tim Stehr about concerns of discrimination and sexual harassment, and because he pressed for an outside investigation into a burglary that allegedly took place in police headquarters.

For various reasons, some local police departments can get into trouble. Burbank is basically working to get an “OK” in regard to its efforts at correcting some problems related to alleged discrimination, sexual harassment and excessive use of force (“Police seek best-practices endorsement to restore public confidence,” Jan. 25). In addition to seeking national accreditation, they are dealing with outside probes and reviews, and there is a cost factor. I think the almighty question is: how did we get involved in this mess?

It's hard to believe that in this virtuous town we have a problem with the police force (“Judge dismisses lawsuit,” Dec. 7). Is that possible? My first thought when I see a police officer is to ask if help is necessary. Of course they are there to admonish you if your seat belts are not being put to good use and make sure you're not illegally using a cell phone. But there are other issues that we as ordinary people are not aware of, such as the relationships among police officers where race or ethnic background plays a part, or where excessive force against suspects could be a problem.

Mercury Air Centers has agreed to pay seven Burbank employees and other members of a class-action lawsuit $600,000 to settle claims that they experienced racial discrimination and sexual harassment. Atlantic Services Inc. — which purchased Mercury Air Centers at Bob Hope Airport after the lawsuit was filed in 2008 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — also agreed to a two-year consent decree that calls for the appointment of a workplace oversight officer.

Let’s cut to the chase: Investigate the police With the most recent filing of yet another lawsuit against the city and its police department by former officers alleging entrenched patterns of discrimination and retaliation, it has become clear that a close examination of the way the city and the Police Department conducts itself is warranted. By way of “examination,” I do not mean the traditional method of naming an exploratory group to review the possibility of forming a review committee, which will then take an excessive amount of time to produce a noncommittal report full of obfuscations and over-broad generalizations that will later be either ignored or paraded around as the truth.