Illinois Fire Department Prevails in Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Suit
A federal court jury in Illinois has rejected the claims of an administrative assistant with the Cicero Fire Department that she had been sexually harassed and discriminated against on account of her race and ethnicity.
Maria Isabella Delgadillo filed suit in October 2011 claiming she had been subjected to offensive comments on a daily basis. Some of the sexual and ethnicity-based comments were directed towards her personally, while others were directed towards persons of other races by white male employees of the fire department.
Delgadillo was seeking $1.5 million in damages plus an additional $2 million in attorneys fees. She is Hispanic, and alleged that derogatory comments were directed toward Hispanics, Mexicans and African Americans. Attached is an earlier ruling in the case that outlines many of DeGadillio’s allegations. DelGadillo v Cicero
Cicero Town President Larry Dominick released a statement stating; “As the Town of Cicero asserted from the beginning, my administration vigorously enforces policy against sexual harassment and racial discrimination in any branch of Town government. It is a zero tolerance policy for such behavior.”
On March 23, 2016, the jury rejected her claims after a 10 day trial. More on the ruling.
It would seem to me that sexual harassment is one of the very few situations where the accused is presumed guilty, until proven innocent, which is almost impossible to do. The accusation is based, in large part, on how the complainant interprets the comment(s), even if the complainant is not the intended recipient (and even if the recipient and speaker did not intend any harassment and even if the recipient was not offended). If the complainant is offended (or claims to be), apparently that is all that is required to sustain a finding of harassment. The only way to “disprove” the allegation would be to prove that the complainant intentionally misinterpreted the comments, and maliciously filed a knowingly-false complaint. Barring evidence of bad faith behavior (“I’m going to get that miserable Captain if it’s the last thing I do”), it becomes virtually impossible to prove. We have been told that in some jurisdictions, the accused does not have the right to confront the accuser (apparently because this is an “employment” or “personnel” matter, not a criminal charge), making it even more difficult to disprove an accusation. And, of course, once an allegation of sexual harassment is in one’s personnel file, it is there forever, effectively destroying any further chances for advancement.
This has cropped up once or twice in the sexual harassment trainings I have delivered this year, and I haven’t known how to answer.
I suspect the “law book” answer is “there are sufficient safeguards in place to reduce the likelihood of false complaints,” but I also suspect the “real world” answer is that these false accusations happen, and there is nothing that can be done about them.