Sexual Harassment

The following incidents were taken from police reports. NORTHWEST DISTRICT 2200 block of W. Burbank Boulevard: Police are investigating a report of a BB gun fired through a window Friday. 3700 Jeffries Avenue: A juvenile was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery Friday at Luther Burbank Middle School. School officials told police the juvenile allegedly grabbed another student's buttocks and left breast. The school has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment.

BURBANK — A set of seminars on cross-cultural awareness for John Burroughs High School athletics staffers seeks to enhance the sensitive side of the school’s coaches. Darryl Kincy, a motivational speaker, made a presentation to all of the high school’s athletics staff Tuesday and spoke with them about ethnic and cultural sensitivity and taboos. The first of two seminars was part of ordinary staff development, and not in response to ethnic and cultural clashes at the school, said Jan Britz, assistant superintendent of instructional services.

Joyce Rudolph 'Oleanna' in rehearsal at Little Victory Theatre BURBANK -- David Mamet's "Oleanna" opens Thursday at The Little Victory Theatre in Burbank. Maria Gobetti is director/producer for the play about a college professor accused of sexual harassment by his student. It explores themes of political correctness, power, censorship and abuse. The script is edgy and witty and somewhat risky, Gobetti said. It is very verbal, as everyone who is familiar with Mamet, knows.

Jackson Bell A jury awarded a longtime city employee more than $1.5 million late Thursday, finding that she was subjected to disability discrimination, attorneys said. Deborah McMurray was awarded $1,501,567 in damages and an additional $33,000 for the city's failure to meet reasonable accommodations for her disability, said Stephen Love, one of her attorneys. "This is a situation where Mrs. McMurray was a valuable employee who had consistently received outstanding reviews and thinks she was discriminated against on the basis of her disability," Love said.

Jackson Bell A jury will consider the merits of a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by a Burbank city employee after attorneys on both sides delivered closing arguments this week. Deborah McMurray, 57, a revenue clerk in the city's Park, Recreation and Community Services Department, sued the city in March 2001, alleging age and gender discrimination. According to her attorney, Brad Gage, McMurray was subjected to a hostile work environment when she complained about the treatment.

Defending the city against claims that former Burbank Deputy Chief of Police William Taylor was terminated after facing on-the-job retaliation from the department, attorneys this week called into question the reason for his lawsuit. Taylor alleges he was demoted, and then fired, for pushing for proper discipline in a sexual harassment incident and because he blocked the firing of minority police officers. But defense attorneys said in Los Angeles County Superior court that it wasn't until Taylor received notice to appear for an interview by an outside investigator concerning the robbery at a local bakery that he filed his lawsuit against the city.

CITY CENTER — One lieutenant and four Burbank police officers filed a lawsuit against the department Thursday, alleging that they were subjected to routine racial discrimination and sexual harassment, and then faced retaliation from the command staff when they complained. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Lt. Omar Rodriguez and police officers Cindy Guillen-Gomez, Steve Karagiosian, Elfego Rodriguez and Jamal Childs. According to the complaint, the officers “were subjected to discrimination and discriminatory policies, practices and procedures based upon race, ancestry, national origin, sex/gender, marital status, and pregnancy, among other things.

The cost incurred by the city as it continues to defend itself against a slew of lawsuits filed by former and current police officers has hit $7.1 million and counting, officials announced recently. And most of the cases - which center on claims of racial discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination - remain ongoing. The largest chunk of the cost, roughly $4 million, was spent defending a multi-plaintiff lawsuit in which three Latino officers, a black officer and an Armenian officer claimed racism and sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed in May 2009.

The Burbank Police Department has embarked on a multiyear quest to achieve accreditation from an independent agency established by the U.S. Department of Justice. The process through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies is in addition to the internal strategic plan and policy reviews already taking place. If successful, officials say the accreditation would be a major step in helping the Police Department make peace with a past scarred by ongoing discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuits and allegations of excessive use of force.

The City Council this week filled the lone vacancy on the Police Commission with a candidate with extensive experience working with film and TV studios. In doing so, the council passed over Robert Frutos - the former chairman of the commission and City Council candidate - who had reapplied after losing his seat in May. The resignation of Commissioner Jim Etter in July left a vacancy on the seven-member commission. Mayor Jess Talamantes, Councilman Dave Golonski and Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy voted to appoint Tom Bruehl, a former Paramount executive, to the commission on Tuesday.