DEPARTMENT OF FAIR EMPLOYMENT AND HOUSING REACHES AGREEMENT WITH CITY OF SAN DIEGO FOR ALLEGED SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING VIOLATIONS
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing, California's civil rights agency, has reached a settlement with the City of San Diego after the City allegedly failed to provide sexual harassment training seminars to supervisors.
"It's imperative that employees all be treated fairly and feel safe coming to work," said Business, Consumer Services and Housing Secretary Anna Caballero. "I commend the Department of Fair Employment and Housing for continuing to fight for fairness and equality for all Californians."
The Department filed the complaint in August against the City, after then Mayor Bob Filner, who was facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, tried to defend his behavior by claiming that the City had never given him sexual harassment training. Filner, who has since resigned, pleaded guilty to three criminal charges and was recently sentenced.
The complaint alleged that San Diego was in violation of California's Fair Employment and Housing Act by failing to provide sexual harassment prevention training to its supervisory employees, including elected and appointed officials and, may have failed to prevent discrimination from occurring.
Upon completing its investigation, the Department discussed its findings with San Diego and entered in a settlement agreement that was approved by the City Council on Tuesday.
"This agreement serves as a model for other local government agencies to fully comply with the sexual harassment training required of all supervisors, including elected and appointed officials under the Fair Employment and Housing Act," said Department Director Phyllis Cheng.
As part of the agreement, San Diego, without admitting liability, will comply with the Fair Employment and Housing Act, providing at least two hours of online sexual harassment prevention training to all supervisory employees, including all elected and appointed officials, within six months of their hire, election or appointment date, and every two years thereafter. For the next five years, San Diego will report to the Department every six months regarding the City's compliance with the requirement to provide sexual harassment prevention training programs.
"We are pleased to have negotiated this agreement with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to ensure compliance with state law," said San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. "The City's mayor is responsible for compliance, but what happens when the City's mayor does not comply? In this case, he is no longer in office, having resigned. I thank the Department for being firm but reasonable. Our interim mayor has directed that the City's Human Resources Department diligently comply with the settlement agreement and state law."
The Department offers sexual harassment training webinars for continuing education credit, which are free of charge for government agencies, at http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/Webinars.htm.
The DFEH is the state agency charged with enforcing California's civil rights laws. The mission of the DFEH is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations and from hate violence. For more information, visit the Department's Web site at www.dfeh.ca.gov.