A marketing analyst for UC Irvine’s Cancer Center Monday sued a volunteer fundraiser and the University of California, alleging she was sexually harassed while on the job and nothing was done to help her.
Carlin Rae Motley, 34, alleges that Ibrahim Eldumiati had been harassing her for about a year with unwanted visits, hugs and kisses, and that she sought help from a higher-up to no avail.
“She’s a very attractive woman and was doing great in her job, which she loved,” her attorney John Winer told City News Service.
He alleged that Eldumiati, who is named as a defendant, “developed a crush on her and starts sexually harassing her and just kind of doing everything he can to insinuate himself into her life.”
He said Motley went to her manager, Jennifer Sarrail.
“She said, `Look, this guy is sexually harassing me, he calls me all the time, tries to kiss me and get all over me. You need to please help me stop it because I don’t know what to do,”’ Winer said. “The supervisor failed in any way to take action to protect Carlin … and, instead, did everything to make her face as much risk as possible, leaving them in situations alone together, and this guy would always try to hit on her. She did everything she could to resist him.”
UC Irvine spokesman Tom Vasich declined to comment on the specifics in the complaint.
“We have just learned of the lawsuit at today’s news conference. We will review legal documents once they are received and comment at the appropriate time,” he said.
Winer alleged that Eldumiati “has impulse control issues, which makes him dangerous to someone like Carlin.”
“They should have done way more to protect her,” Winer said, adding that the volunteer should have been warned to stay away from Motley.
“Not only did they allow him to have access to her, it continued,” the attorney said. “They invited him to events she was going to be at.”
The complaint details how Eldumiati allegedly got drunk at a dinner preceding a Sheryl Crow concert to raise funds for the hospital in October 2017. At some point he grew so inebriated that he took his shoes off and “food literally fell out of his mouth,” according to the complaint.
On the day of the concert, he allegedly got drunk again and “bear-hugged” Motley while kissing her multiple times on the cheek and neck, according to the complaint, which also alleges he said he “loved” her multiple times.
At one point, Eldumiati took a photo of Motley that he used as a screensaver for his phone and showed it to her, according to the lawsuit, which says the “last straw” for the plaintiff came at the end of January when he was waiting for her as she arrived at work and said he needed to “ask her some questions,” then rode up the elevator with her.
At a meeting with the volunteer’s supervisors later that day, Motley reiterated that she wanted him to leave her alone, according to her court papers, which allege that one of the supervisors said she was “curious” to see what Motley looked like because Eldumiati “always said how beautiful (she) was.”
According to the complaint, Sarrail said Eldumiati was “a valuable contributor to the program.”
He raised about $40,000 last year, “and apparently that’s a lot” for a volunteer, Winer said.
Motley filed an internal complaint, which found in her favor, but she was never told what happened to the supervisors and was not given any assurances that she would be protected, Winer said.
At a news conference at Winer’s office, Motley, in describing one encounter with Eldumiati, said, “He, throughout the morning, began kind of stalking me, like, kind of like circling. At one point, he just stopped and stared at me to intimidate me for a long time. And so I notified one of my colleagues, who was a trusted colleague, that I was very worried and that I was very alone.”