Sex Harassment in City Jobs Reported in Study

A survey of women working in Los Angeles city government found that more than a third of those questioned reported instances of sexual harassment, prompting a refinement of the city’s policies regarding such incidents.

The study, conducted by the city’s Commission on the Status of Women, also found that many women were unaware of programs designed to train workers for career advancement. It found a prevalent desire for a city program to aid workers with personal difficulties ranging from stress to housing concerns.

And exacerbating all the concerns, the survey found, is a belief among 70% of women employees that complaints of those incidents would have little effect and, among 61%, might even trigger retaliation.

The findings, released in November, prompted Mayor Tom Bradley to direct the commission to review the city’s policies and training regarding sexual harassment “to provide me with your best recommendation to resolve this problem as soon as possible.”

The commission has drafted new, more specific wording for the policy and is expected to formally adopt the refinements and forward them to the mayor on Monday.

Susan J. Rose, the commission’s executive director, said: “What you’ve got here is an information gap for our employees. That’s what we’re trying to correct. We’ve learned that women really aren’t aware of their rights.”

The new policy is similar to the 1981 guidelines drafted by Bradley, which authorized discipline ranging from a formal reprimand to firing, but is more specific in spelling out what constitutes acts of sexual harassment.

The revised policy, Rose said, would describe sexual harassment as acts that range from “leering” gestures and passing of obscene notes to offering or denying promotions based on the response to sexual advances.

In a letter to commission President Nina Sorkin, the mayor said he “was outraged to discover that sexual harassment continues to exist for some women employees in this city.” The survey, conducted last March, involved the distribution of 12,000 questionnaires to women city employees, both full time and part time. A total of 4,826 were returned and tabulated. Of those, 4,585 were from full-time employees, representing 46% of the full-time female work force.

Among the findings:

--Thirty-six percent reported incidents of sexual harassment in the form of sexual references, propositions, vulgar language, offensive visual depictions or physical contact. Incidents were most often reported in traditionally male-dominated departments that employ police officers, firefighters, carpenters, mechanics and tree trimmers, among others.

--Respondents reported 3,384 instances when they wanted to file an employee complaint for various reasons but did not--a figure that reflected the high degree of skepticism about the outcome of such complaints.

--Almost half of the women who never applied for job-promotion training said they were unaware that such classes exist or that they were eligible to apply.

--Seventy-seven percent said they would use a city-sponsored program for assistance in resolving personal problems. Pesonal concerns most often cited by female employees included stress (40%), educational advancement (26%), child care (21%), aging family members (19%), physical health (18%), housing (17%) and single parenting (16%).