A Hawaiian Gardens city employee has dropped her lawsuit alleging the municipality did not do enough to protect her and other women from being sexually harassed by the president of the workers’ union.
An attorney for plaintiff Brianna Gonzalez filed court papers Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra asking that her client’s case be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not state why the dismissal was requested, but the attorneys on both sides told the judge during a May 24 status conference that they were hopeful the case would settle.
Gonzalez filed the case in April 2021, alleging sexual harassment and failure to take steps to prevent harassment. In their court papers, attorneys for the city denied the plaintiff’s allegations and said they were barred by the statute of limitations.
Gonzalez was hired in August 2017 and met the workers’ union president, Fred Licon, at about that time, according to the suit.
“Licon initially was cordial to (Gonzalez),” the suit stated. “However, he quickly began to focus on her, singling her out and frequently stopping at her desk when he came to City Hall — (her) workplace.”
By the end of 2017, Licon, more than 40 years older than the plaintiff, began asking her more personal questions, including whether she had a boyfriend and what she liked to do outside of work, according to the suit. He also complimented Gonzalez on her hair and dress, inquired about her personal life and invited her to lunch, the suit stated.
Gonzalez “rebuffed these advances, and avoided and refused the lunch invitations,” the suit stated. Licon, undeterred, continued to focus on Gonzalez while describing himself as a “man of God,” according to the suit.
Licon told Gonzalez that as union president, he had a high level of influence with the city and that he was close to City Council members, people who would have influence over the plaintiff’s job and who would perform favors for him, according to the suit.
Licon would offer to “put in a good word” for Gonzalez, the suit stated.
“These comments had the effect of intimidating (Gonzalez), causing her fear that if she rebuffed Licon, her job would be in jeopardy,” the suit stated.
Gonzalez feared that Licon would influence the city to fire her because she was in her probationary period when he was paying too much attention to her, according to the suit.
During a November 2017 meeting in which Gonzalez signed up to join the union, Licon told her she was “naturally beautiful” and “does not need to wear makeup like the other girls,” the suit stated.
Gonzalez later found out that at least two other female employees had complained about Licon and that an investigation was opened into one of the women’s complaints, the suit states.
Licon allegedly stopped bothering Gonzalez for a time in early 2018, but began doing so again in April of that year. He tried to convince her not to help the other female employee in her harassment case against him and told her “that he has a lot of power in the union and influence in the city that can benefit or hurt” her, the suit stated.
Licon’s alleged harassment again curtailed for a while, but started again by the end of 2018, the suit states. She filed a complaint with human resources in October 2019, but during a subsequent investigation the city allegedly did not interview any of the witnesses she identified.
A human resources employee told Gonzalez there was “enough evidence in the witnesses the attorney interviewed who supported her claims and the investigation is closed,” the suit stated.
The city’s investigation concluded in June 2020 by sustaining charges that Licon had made comments about Gonzalez’s appearance, inquired about her personal life and repeatedly pressured her for lunch dates, the suit stated.