(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this workplace harassment/personal injury case and its proceedings.)
Defendants’ Harassment and Discriminatory Conduct Toward Plaintiff was Severe and Pervasive
When taken as a whole and analyzed in context, Defendant’s blatant racist and anti-homosexual comments combined with his inappropriate questioning and innuendo regarding Plaintiff’s sexuality clearly show that Defendant Green had a problem with Plaintiff based on race, religion and perceived sexual preference. Defendant Green acted on his perceptions against Plaintiff by consistently intimidating and harassing him through micro management of his department, derogatory remarks about Plaintiff to other staff, intimidation of students on Plaintiff’s team, attempting to create violations of policy and then discipline Plaintiff for such violations, over penalizing Plaintiff with unreasonably harsh punishments, initiating an unwarranted NCAA investigation of Plaintiff, and waging an overall campaign to get Plaintiff fired.
When the workplace is permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule and insult that is “sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment,” the law is violated. Kelly-Zurian v. Wohl Shoe Co. (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 397, quoting Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. (1993) 510 U.S. 17, 21. Defendants’ actions continued nonstop from August 2005 through July 2007.
In spite of excellent performance of his positions as Athletic Director and Men’s Basketball Coach for several years, Plaintiff was subjected to overt discrimination and harassment by Defendants. This discrimination and harassment was manifested through the actions described herein and witnessed by numerous individuals some of whose testimony is attached in part to this opposition. (See Part 7 of 7.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.