For many employees, harassment and discrimination do not happen as isolated events. Problems can overlap: an employee may face inappropriate conduct from a supervisor, experience retaliation after speaking up or requesting workplace protections, and later find that a medical condition or disability becomes another source of mistreatment.
That is what our client alleges happened while working as a dental assistant for a dental office.
Makarem & Associates recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of our client against her former employer alleging sexual harassment, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to accommodate, failure to engage in the interactive process, failure to prevent harassment and discrimination, and constructive discharge.
According to the complaint, our client began working as a dental assistant and later worked at a second dental office. She alleges that what followed was a pattern of inappropriate workplace conduct that ultimately made her working conditions intolerable.
Unwanted Conduct in the Workplace
According to the complaint, our client worked in close physical proximity to a supervisor throughout the workday. She alleges that he repeatedly subjected her to unwanted and inappropriate physical contact, including after she asked him to stop. She also alleges that he regularly discussed inappropriate sexual subjects at work, made unwelcome sexual innuendos and comments about women’s bodies, and engaged in other sexually inappropriate conduct in her presence.
The alleged conduct was not limited to interactions with one person. The complaint alleges that our client also witnessed inappropriate conduct involving female coworkers and was herself subjected to degrading comments about her body by coworkers.
Over time, our client says the environment left her feeling intimidated, uncomfortable, and unsafe. She allegedly tried to keep her distance from the supervisor whenever possible. The complaint alleges that the harassment altered the conditions of her employment and created a hostile, intimidating, and abusive workplace.
Speaking Up Without an HR Department
Employees sometimes assume there is little they can do about harassment when their employer does not have a traditional human resources department. Our client’s allegations illustrate why that should not prevent workers from objecting to inappropriate conduct.
According to the complaint, the employer did not maintain an HR department. Even so, our client allegedly made her objections known in several ways. She moved away when subjected to unwanted physical contact, objected to inappropriate conduct, told a coworker that sexual conversations at work made her uncomfortable, and repeatedly asked that the unwanted contact stop. She alleges that her objections were dismissed or mocked.
The complaint further alleges that another employee expressly characterized the supervisor’s conduct as sexual harassment in front of management. Despite that warning and our client’s own objections, the lawsuit alleges that no immediate and appropriate corrective action was taken and the harassment continued.
For California employees, an employer’s lack of a dedicated HR department does not eliminate workplace protections against unlawful harassment and discrimination.
A Workplace Injury Was Followed by Reduced Hours
Our client’s allegations involve more than sexual harassment.
During her employment, she suffered an injury after falling at work. According to the complaint, she reported the injury and provided written instructions from a medical provider restricting her to light-duty work.
She alleges that her work situation then changed.
According to the lawsuit, her hours were reduced, she was told that business was slow and she was not needed, some of her shifts were assigned to another employee, and another dental assistant was hired. When our client questioned why her schedule had changed, she alleges that she was falsely accused of taking patients’ private information home.
The complaint alleges that these actions were retaliation for protected activity, including reporting her workplace injury, providing work restrictions, asking that those restrictions be honored, and opposing the alleged harassment.
When Hearing Aids Became a Workplace Issue
The lawsuit also raises an important issue about disability accommodations.
Later in her employment, our client was prescribed hearing aids for a hearing impairment. According to the complaint, her employer knew about the impairment because management observed her wearing the hearing aids at work.
Rather than allowing her to continue using them, our client alleges that she was told she did not need hearing aids, was mocked for wearing them, and was directed to remove them. She says she asked to continue wearing the hearing aids and explained why she needed them, but her requests were dismissed.
The complaint alleges that the hearing aids allowed our client to perform the essential duties of her position and imposed no cost or operational burden on the employer. Nevertheless, she claims the employer prohibited her from using them and offered no alternative accommodation.
Accommodation Requires a Conversation
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act provides protections for employees with qualifying disabilities, including requirements concerning reasonable accommodation and the interactive process.
The interactive process is important because accommodation is not supposed to be based simply on what an employer thinks an employee needs. It generally requires communication about the employee’s limitations and potential effective accommodations.
According to our client’s complaint, that conversation never occurred.
She alleges that management never met with her to discuss her hearing impairment, never asked what accommodation she needed, never sought information from her medical providers, and never proposed an alternative accommodation. Instead, she alleges that the accommodation she was already using, her hearing aids, was prohibited.
The lawsuit therefore asserts separate claims for failure to reasonably accommodate a disability and failure to engage in the interactive process.
When Working Conditions Become Intolerable
Our client ultimately resigned.
But the lawsuit alleges that this was not an ordinary voluntary resignation. According to the complaint, the combination of alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, and disability discrimination created working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person in our client’s position would have felt there was no reasonable alternative but to leave.
That allegation forms the basis of the lawsuit’s constructive discharge claim.
Constructive discharge can arise when an employee resigns because the employer intentionally created or knowingly permitted intolerable working conditions. Here, the complaint alleges that the harassment, subsequent retaliation, and treatment related to our client’s hearing impairment collectively forced her to resign.
What California Employees Can Learn From This Case
Our client’s circumstances are specific to her, but the issues raised in the lawsuit illustrate several important principles for California workers.
You can object to harassment even when there is no HR department. Employees do not lose their workplace protections simply because they work for a smaller company without a formal human resources team.
Harassment does not have to involve a single dramatic incident. Repeated unwanted touching, sexual comments, innuendos, degrading remarks, and other inappropriate conduct can collectively affect an employee’s working environment.
Requests for disability accommodation should be taken seriously. When an employer knows that an employee may need an accommodation, California law may require the employer to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process to identify an effective reasonable accommodation. The complaint specifically invokes that requirement under Government Code section 12940(n).
Retaliation can take different forms. It does not necessarily mean immediate termination. The lawsuit alleges actions including reduced hours, reassigned shifts, accusations against the employee, and ultimately working conditions that allegedly forced her resignation.
Documenting objections and accommodation requests can matter. Employees experiencing workplace problems may want to preserve written restrictions, accommodation requests, schedules, messages, and notes reflecting when they raised concerns and what happened afterward.
Where the Case Stands
Makarem & Associates has filed a lawsuit on our client’s behalf against her former employer. The complaint asserts eight causes of action: sexual harassment, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, failure to prevent harassment and discrimination, failure to accommodate, failure to engage in the interactive process, retaliation, and constructive discharge in violation of public policy.
The lawsuit seeks damages for alleged lost wages and other losses, emotional distress, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other available relief.
If you are experiencing sexual harassment, disability discrimination, retaliation, or problems obtaining a reasonable accommodation at work in California, you may have legal options. Makarem & Associates represents employees in workplace disputes throughout California and can help you understand the protections that may apply to your situation.
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