A longtime Los Angeles County prosecutor who sued the county, alleging she was repeatedly harassed and denied promotions by individuals within the office she believed were trying to destroy her career, wants a judge to resolve a dispute over whether promotions she was denied after suing can be part of pretrial discovery.
Deputy District Attorney Linda Baek sued in Los Angeles Superior Court and alleges she was subjected to a “coordinated pattern of continuing violations” that began when she complained of sexual harassment by a co-worker in 2014. Baek has sought to be elevated from a grade 3 prosecutor to grade 4.
On Wednesday, Baek’s attorney filed court papers with Judge Jeffery D. McFarland stating that since the filing of Baek’s lawsuit in May 2021, she has been denied promotions eight more times. But according to Baek’s attorney, the county has taken a new position that only her missed promotions between Jan. 1, 2019, and the filing of her lawsuit are relevant.
“In order to proceed, we need the court’s input on these positions,” Baek’s lawyer contends in his pleadings.
Baek previously submitted a sworn declaration in the case.
“I am aware that other deputy district attorneys who do not receive a grade promotion they applied for are provided feedback and coaching by senior attorneys to help them achieve the promotion in the future,” Baek says. “I have never been provided any such feedback or coaching.”
While Baek was hopeful for positive changes with the election of District Attorney George Gascon, “the same actors in the … Human Resource Departments of the county and the District Attorney’s Office have continued the pattern of retaliation, which has effectively destroyed Ms. Baek’s once-promising career,” the suit states.
From Baek’s April 1995 hiring until 2014, she was on a positive career track, receiving favorable assignments and promotions, the suit states. She served for a time in the five-lawyer hate crimes unit along with future District Attorney Jackie Lacey, according to the suit.
In 2014, Baek met Bob Knapp, a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer referred to by some as an “institution” who was working as a juvenile case hearing officer in the district attorney’s Long Beach branch, according to the suit.
“In her first meeting with Mr. Knapp, Ms. Baek found him strange, particularly when he said, `I love you, Linda’ after having just met her,” the suit states.
In a subsequent encounter in Baek’s office, Knapp allegedly put his hand on her back and started groping at her bra strap before “she then threw him out of the office.”
When Baek complained to a supervisor, the boss “minimized her claims and did nothing,” the suit states.