As reported here. This seems like an example of managers using psychiatry to handle the complaints of employees, even when the complaints are legitimate.
The state of California must bear the responsibility for sexual harassment caused by the inmates it houses, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says.
The San Francisco=based court says the California Department of Corrections allowed a hostile work environment to go on in the Pelican Bay State Prison.
A former guard there, Deanna Freitag, sued after her supervisors sent her to a psychiatrist when she complained that inmates were sexually harassing her.
Ms. Freitag alleged that the CDCR and Pelican Bay were delinquent in addressing the sexually hostile environment created by prison inmates — particularly in confronting the pervasive practice at Pelican Bay of inmate exhibitionist behavior directed at female officers.
When she complained, she was retaliated against and ultimately terminated due to her repeated complaints regarding the problem, according to court records.
A jury agreed and awarded her $500,000 in economic damages, $100,000 in compensatory damages and $100 in punitive damages. The court also awarded over $1 million in attorney’s fees.
“There was overwhelming evidence presented to the jury that the CDCR maintained a hostile work environment at Pelican Bay by failing to take prompt and reasonable corrective action with respect to Freitag’s multiple complaints,” the appeals court says.
“There was also overwhelming evidence that agents of the CDCR retaliated against Freitag as a result of those complaints,” it says.
The Court's decsion is available here (PDF)
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