LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A Los Angeles judge ruled today that a county
grounds maintenance worker can take to trial her claims that two former
supervisors sexually harassed her, one by telling her she would lose her job if
she refused sex with him and the other by making inappropriate remarks and
gestures.
But while Superior Court Judge Michael Linfield found that Blanca
Jimenez had triable issues of sexual harassment, he also granted a motion by
lawyers for Los Angeles County to dismiss her retaliation claim. He ruled she
did not show that her complaint and lawsuit deposition testimony were related
to a reduction of her hours and a transfer to another job site.
Jimenez was hired as a temporary employee and that hours were cut back
for her and many other non-permanent workers because of budget cuts and
seasonal needs for their duties, the judge found.
Jimenez’s lawsuit, filed in May 2011, also names her former bosses, Mike
Timperio and Rudy Valenzuela.
Jimenez began working for the county in December 2007. Timperio became
her supervisor six months later and began calling her names such as “Tijuana
hooker,” and later started making sexually oriented gestures, her complaint
alleges.
Jimenez complained to Valenzuela, but he did nothing and began
pressuring her to have sex with him and Timperio, according to the lawsuit,
which says Timperio was transferred to another site after she complained to
human resources.
Valenzuela then started demanding sex from Jimenez as a condition of
keeping her job, the suit alleges.
“Plaintiff was forced to engage in sex with her supervisor and told if
she didn’t comply she would be fired,” Jimenez’s court papers state. “This
occurred over a course of 2 1/2 years with a steadily escalating demand …”
The plaintiff also alleges that Valenzuela sent sexually explicit texts
and an obscene photo to her, causing her to fear that her ex-husband would see
the material and demand sole custody of their 12-year-old son.
Jimenez claimed her weekly hours were cut from 40 to 32 in 2011 after
she complained. She was then transferred to another job location in Castaic,
far from her Antelope Valley home, after she testified in a deposition, her
court papers state.
Trial is scheduled for Aug. 13.

(10 votes, average: 4.70 out of 5)

 Loading …