At Makarem & Associates, some of the hardest conversations we have start the same way: “I wasn’t fired. I quit. So I probably don’t have a case.”
More often than not, that’s wrong — and a case our firm filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court is a clear example of why. Our client didn’t get walked out. She left because her employer gave her no realistic way to stay. California law has a name for that, and it’s not “resignation.”
A First Day That Set the Tone
Our client was hired in late 2022 as a case manager at a Culver City nonprofit, New Earth Organization — which also does business as New Earth Life — alongside a related entity, Modern Hero, Inc.
According to her complaint, the harassment began on roughly her first day of work. Her supervisor invited her to an after-hours event with coworkers at a hookah lounge. Once she was seated next to him, he put his arm around her, made a series of sexual remarks, asked her about her sexuality, and — while he was talking — began rubbing her leg and squeezed her upper thigh.
She didn’t consent to any of it. She froze.
That reaction is worth pausing on, because it is one of the most common and most misunderstood responses to workplace harassment. Freezing is not agreement. It is not encouragement. It is a well-documented stress response, and it does not mean the conduct was welcome.
When “Stop” Wasn’t Enough
What her complaint describes next wasn’t a one-time lapse in judgment. It was a pattern that escalated over weeks: repeated hugging, her hands being caressed in the office, and — on one occasion — her supervisor touching her bare legs and sliding his hand up her dress. She backed away and slapped his hand off. He kept going, reaching for hugs and trying to hold her hand.
In December, she alleges, he insisted on driving her to a meeting. Before they got in the car, he hugged her, ran his hands down her body, and stopped at her buttocks. On the drive, he repeatedly grabbed for her hand. Each time, she told him to stop. He then began rubbing her bare leg and again put his hand up her dress. She shoved his hand away and yelled at him.
He also texted her during the workday — telling her she had soft skin, telling her he had been sneaking looks at her.
By any measure, she said no. She said it with words, with her hands, and with her voice. Under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, an employee does not have to object repeatedly for conduct to be unwelcome.
She Reported It in Writing. Then Nothing Happened.
In early December 2022, our client emailed two of the organization’s human resources representatives and reported what her supervisor had been doing. She told them, in writing, how overwhelmed and afraid she was.
Here is what her complaint says happened next: no investigation. No discipline. No separation of the two of them. She was required to keep working with the same supervisor, day after day, after telling her employer she was frightened of him.
This is the part of the case we want other California employees to sit with, because it is the part that turns a harassment problem into an employer liability problem. Once an employer knows, its legal obligations change immediately. Under FEHA, an employer has an affirmative duty to take immediate and appropriate corrective action once it learns harassment is occurring, and employers with five or more employees must also take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment in the first place. Doing nothing is not a neutral choice — where harassment is established, an employer’s failure to act can be a separate violation of its own.
Quitting Isn’t Always Quitting
By February 2023 — roughly two months after she reported — our client could not keep doing it. She left.
California law recognizes what’s called constructive termination, or constructive discharge. The idea is straightforward: an employer should not be able to escape liability by making conditions so intolerable that the employee “chooses” to leave, and then pointing at the resignation letter. Where an employer intentionally creates or knowingly permits working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would have had no reasonable alternative but to resign, the law can treat the resignation as a termination.
That is exactly what our client’s complaint alleges — that the harassment, combined with her employer’s refusal to remedy it, left her with no real option but to go.
Where the Case Stands
The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles against New Earth Organization, Modern Hero, Inc., and the individual supervisor, alleges six causes of action: sexual harassment under FEHA, sex discrimination under FEHA, failure to prevent harassment and discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower retaliation under California Labor Code section 1102.5, and constructive termination in violation of public policy. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and demands a jury trial.
The case is moving forward through the California court system, and we’ll share updates as it progresses.
What This Case Can Teach Other California Employees
Our client’s experience is her own. The patterns in it are not unusual. If parts of this sound familiar, here is what we want you to know:
• Resigning does not automatically end your claim. If conditions were intolerable and your employer knew and didn’t fix them, California may treat your resignation as a termination.
• Freezing is not consenting. Not fighting back in the moment says nothing about whether the conduct was welcome, and it does not undercut your case.
• Put your complaint in writing. Email creates a date, a record, and a recipient. Our client’s written complaint is part of what makes her employer’s inaction so visible.
• An employer’s silence is evidence. If you report harassment and nothing happens — no interview, no investigation, no separation from the harasser — that failure is itself a potential violation of FEHA, separate from the harassment.
• Small and nonprofit employers are covered. FEHA’s harassment provisions reach employers with as few as one employee; the five-or-more-employee threshold applies to discrimination and failure-to-prevent claims. Mission, size, and budget are not defenses.
• Deadlines are real. California harassment claims run on filing deadlines that can be shorter than people expect. If you’re wondering whether you waited too long, ask rather than assume.
If you’re being harassed at work in California, or you left a job because you couldn’t take it any longer, you don’t have to sort out your options by yourself. Makarem & Associates offers free, confidential consultations. Reach out — we’re here to listen, and to help.
This article is based on allegations made in a publicly filed legal complaint. The allegations described are not yet proven in court, and defendants are entitled to respond and defend themselves. Our client’s name has been withheld out of respect for her privacy. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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