In the wake of an announcement by the parties that they were finalizing a settlement, a judge has dismissed a sexual harassment/retaliation lawsuit filed by a Los Angeles International Airport maintenance worker who alleged she was fired in 2023 for complaining that her supervisor sexually harassed her.
The dismissal of Myesha Brown’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit by Judge Richard L. Fruin on Wednesday was “without prejudice,” meaning it can be revived. The parties announced in joint court papers on March 3 that a settlement “in principle” had been achieved, but no terms were divulged.
The judge denied a plaintiff’s request to continue Wednesday’s hearing to a later date.
According to her lawsuit, Brown was hired in July 2023 as a vocational worker in the LAX Maintenance Services Division. She received a performance evaluation of “excellent” three months later, the suit states.
But just two weeks after Brown was hired, she was assigned to terminal 3, where upon arriving her new supervisor gave her an “unwanted” hug, the suit states. He also told her, “I came to greet you. I was wondering if you got lost,” according to the complaint.
Brown tapped the supervisor’s back to try and get him to release her because she felt like a “pinned wrestler patting to be let go,” the suit stated.
The boss then took Brown to a cubicle inside his office where he allegedly beckoned her to engage in a second hug with him and when the weaker Brown tried to resist, the supervisor fell into a chair with his arms still around the plaintiff, the suit stated. The supervisor had told Brown they were in the office to sign paperwork, the suit further states.
Brown continued to resist as the supervisor tried to get him to inappropriately touch him, then he without permission put a hand on parts of her body, the suit states.
“With a mixture of shock and fear, Brown ran from the office,” the suit stated.
When Brown told a co-worker what the supervisor allegedly did to her, the colleague said the boss had behaved that way before and that this was not his “first rodeo,” the suit stated.
Nonetheless, Brown was dispatched to terminal 3 at least three times the next week despite her request for a transfer to another location, the suit states. Not getting help from other supervisors, including one who told her that her alleged harasser was “known for doing that” and also was aware the harassment hotline was not working, Brown filed a report with airport police, according to the suit.
After filing the police report, Brown was subjected to a series of retaliatory steps culminating with her December 2023 firing, when she was told she had failed to meet department standards, the suit stated.
Brown was never told the outcome of the airport police investigation into her complaints against the supervisor, according to her suit filed in September 2024.