Source: The Bakersfield CalifornianNov.迷你倉 17--In a case reminiscent of the Mayor Bob Filner scandal in San Diego, California City Mayor Patrick Bohannon is accused in a lawsuit of sexual harassment, gender discrimination and creating a hostile work environment.The suit was filed by California City Water Department employee Dawn Ferguson, 50, against Bohannon, the city and 20 unidentified defendants.The suit, filed March 18, returns to court Monday for a case management conference.Contacted by telephone, Bohannon, who works as a licensed contractor, declined to comment on the case. The city manager and the city's attorney denied the allegations.It's an unwelcome bit of publicity-attracting litigation for the Kern County desert community of about 13,000."Any type of publicity like this is not good for any municipality. Especially with what has occurred down in ... the San Diego area," said City Councilman Chuck McGuireSan Diego Mayor Filner resigned Aug. 30 amid allegations of inappropriate conduct and a sexual harassment lawsuit.His drawn-out case drew national and international attention.The California City lawsuit alleges that:-- Even though they did not work together, Bohannon "subjected Ferguson to constant and unrelenting stalking and harassment because she is a woman."-- Bohannon "expressed anger at the notion of the City paying money toward her education and training, especially since she would never be promoted or work in the field in the Water Department because she is a woman."-- Bohannon made an unwelcome remark to Ferguson one day in City Hall. It happened on March 27, 2011, the suit alleges, while Ferguson was talking to a co-worker. As Ferguson was saying "the more experience you get, the better you will become," the suit alleges, Bohannon, whom Ferguson says had come in behind her, interrupted saying, "what do you know about experience, all you do is make dildos!" As a result of the stress, Ferguson had "a breakdown in which she needed to be escorted to the hospital by the fire department."-- When Ferguson returned to work after two weeks in the hospital, Bohannon continued to make "derogatory comments to Ferguson such as ' you're so friggin' blonde.' "-- Bohannon came to work with two stickers on his shirt, one over each nipple. In an interview, Ferguson said the stickers were "I Voted" election stickers. She complained to City Manager Tom Weil "about the 'dildo' comment and other harassment," Ferguson further alleges in the lawsuit, "but was told, after a long delay, that nothing could be done other than admonish Bohannon."-- In January, Ferguson was harassed and intimidated by a man while attempting to read a water meter, to the point where she feared for her own safety and called 911. "Ferguson is informed and believes that this incident occurred at the direction, or insistence of, Bohannon," the suit alleges."It got really stressful. It ended up putting me in the hospital. I'd have to look over my shoulder all the time. If I saw his vehicle at City Hall, I would avoid City Hall," Ferguson said in an int儲存rview, adding that the stress made her temporarily blind in her right eye in 2010 due to a spike in blood pressure. "This is the last thing I ever thought I would do in my life, take someone to court."The "dildos" remark has some context.Ferguson's attorney, Daniel Gilleon of San Diego, said his client has a jewelry business, and told the city in writing after Bohannon's remark that she has made sex toys in the past -- but that's immaterial."Because a woman makes a sex toy, ... now she's fair game for you to sexually harass her?" said Gilleon, who also represents a San Diego city employee and a workers compensation court employee in claims against Filner. "This is no longer the type of society where you can discriminate against women ... . The cities of San Diego and Toronto (where Mayor Rob Ford has admitted drug use), at least the politicians are standing up and saying this is wrong. These guys are doing the exact opposite."It wasn't clear why, if Bohannon was indeed harassing Ferguson, she was being targeted.Councilman Bill Smith, a former Mayor Pro Tem, said he believes Ferguson's complaint is politically motivated, the result of people in the city, possibly at City Hall, who don't like Bohannon's actions since first being elected in 2010, including advocating outsourcing services like water meter reading and billing, to Atascadero-based Alexander Contracting Services.The city council voted in April to hire Alexander, and Smith and McGuire said water billing has become more accurate in the months since."Dawn's really an awfully nice girl, and I don't think she would have done this on her own. I really think she was put up to this," Smith said. "It was something that she did on her own. She made crafts and stuff."Said city manager Weil: "the city stands behind him. It's our position that no sexual harassment took place."California City, which replaced its longtime city attorney Wayne K. Lemieux in January, has hired Riverside-based Best Best & Krieger to represent it in this lawsuit."The response to the allegations is they have no merit and we intend to defend the case," said BBK attorney Howard Golds. "The particulars of her allegations is something that we'll get into during the litigation."The city has also hired Sacramento attorney Michael Christian to represent Bohannon. Christian did not respond to a request for comment.California City has liability insurance through the Public Agency Risk Sharing Authority of California that will cover litigation costs, once a $100,000 deductible is reached, Weil said. Smith and McGuire said that's money the city can ill afford to part with."We don't have a whole lot of money. We got hurt when the economy took a major dive, we've got water line problems that are unbelievable," McGuire said, noting that the city's 400 miles of underground water lines had around 240 breaks last year.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.) Visit The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.) at .bakersfield.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage
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