SAN DIEGO’S BIG EMPLOYERS HAVE WORK TO DO

Nearly four years after the #MeToo movement gathered global attention after a long history of widespread sexual harassment, the problem persists. Yes, rapist Harvey Weinstein — whose dozens of victims inspired so many others to come forward — is unlikely to ever have another day of freedom. Yes, many high-profile men have been held accountable for sexual violence and predatory ways. And, yes, lower-profile men have lost their jobs over their abuses.

But a culture change still seems distant. A study released in October by the National Women’s Law Center found that seven in 10 of those who report sexual harassment were subject to some retaliation and that more than one-third — 37 percent — of accused harassers faced no consequences for their behavior. An analysis released in January by the Pew Research Center found that 33 percent of women 35 and under had been subject to online sexual harassment, triple the rate of men 35 and under.

A new Watchdog report by The San Diego UnionTribune’s Lyndsay Winkley and Lauryn Schroeder illustrates the extent of the problem locally — specifically at large employers, which should have the most effective anti-harassment programs. It found that from 2015 to May 2020, nearly 200 claims of harassment, discrimination and other abuses were filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing by workers at 11 large local employers. Such claims are required before workers can pursue lawsuits over how they have been treated.

The employers included the city of San Diego, the San Diego Unified School District, Scripps Health, San Diego County, Qualcomm and San Diego State University. Nearly 29 percent of the claims the

Union-Tribune reviewed were filed against the city of San Diego or one of its 11,600 employees. That’s a more than 1 in 4 ratio despite the city’s workforce representing just 7 percent of all the workers employed at the 11 entities in the analysis. Harassment of men is a problem, but lawyers specializing in employment law say their clients are disproportionately women and people of color.

The Watchdog report detailed an ordeal described by Louise LaFoy, a secretary at the county Sheriff ’s Department, who said she was groped in 2014 and 2017 by then-Assistant Sheriff Richard Miller. LaFoy said she was reluctant to report the incidents and that when she did, she was at times treated in hostile fashion by investigators. While she won a $60,000 judgment in Superior Court in May after a three-year legal fight, that came only after the attorney representing Miller and the county suggested she had made the stories up.

How perverse: Employers who say they strongly oppose sexual harassment have a financial incentive to distrust allegations. A 2019 National Academy of Sciences study co-authored by Harvard sociologist Frank Dobbin suggested another flaw with the system, noting employers may come to see harassment training as unsuccessful if it led to more complaints because of a broader understanding of what constituted unacceptable behavior.

Yet the study had some positive insights as well. It found that employers that had more women managers and an “if you see something, say something” ethos seemed to have healthier workplaces. Here’s hoping local employers large and small figure this out — and that companies take training and complaints much more seriously and that bosses start protecting their employees much, much better.