Ceres settles allegations Police Department subjected employee to hostile workplace
Ceres paid a $120,000 settlement to end a lawsuit a former employee filed, alleging the city failed to stop a Police Department supervisor from harassing her, including asking for a “massage with a happy ending.”
The city did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement signed in April, which The Bee recently obtained through a public records request.
A federal judge dismissed Teresa Aguilar’s hostile work environment lawsuit in June, court records show. She requested $4 million in damages when she filed the claim in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of California in November 2020. Aguilar alleged her former supervisor repeatedly made sexually explicit remarks, threw things at her and retaliated against her for complaining about the harassment.
The city agreed to pay Aguilar about $80,000 for all alleged damages, including emotional distress, per the agreement. Ceres also paid her attorney’s firm about $40,000 for legal fees. Aguilar voluntarily resigned from her job as a code enforcement secretary in May 2020 after allegedly dealing with harassment since November 2018.
Aguilar declined to comment on the settlement, her attorney Joshua Watson said in an email Wednesday. She signed a limited disclosure provision in the settlement agreement, which requires she pay a fee for discussing the negotiations.
Insurance through the Central San Joaquin Valley Risk Management Authority paid for the majority of the settlement and legal expenses, Ceres Human Resources Director Theresa Roland said in an email. Ceres paid $25,000 for the self-insurance retention, Roland added. She declined to further comment on the settlement.
Aguilar also dismissed claims against her former supervisor Sgt. Jason Coley, per a court document and as required by the settlement agreement. Coley left the Ceres Police Department in July 2020, nearly 22 years after he was first hired, a city spokesman previously told The Bee.
Coley no longer is a resident of California, the lawsuit says, and The Bee was unable to reach him. Aguilar also moved out of the area and lives in Texas.
Higher-level Police Department supervisors were aware of how Coley harassed Aguilar, the lawsuit claimed. But the department complies with the California government code requiring sexual harassment training, Roland said. The mandatory training law includes informing supervisors of their obligation to report harassment, and Roland said the last annual training was in November.
Per the agreement, Aguilar also requested to close a gender discrimination complaint she filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Ceres previously settled a workplace harassment lawsuit filed by two female civilians working in the Police Department. In 2017, the city paid each woman $200,000 to resolve their discrimination allegations, The Bee previously reported. They claimed several police officers secretly recorded them and took video of one employee’s underpants while she wore a dress.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
