Sheriff’s Dept. Sued by Woman : Deputy Charges Sex Harassment, Bias Against Females

A female deputy filed suit Thursday against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, charging that fellow deputies and supervisors have engaged in a wide range of sexual harassment and discriminatory practices against the department’s 742 female officers.

The class-action suit alleges, among other things, that female deputies are called derogatory names and are not given the same field training experience as men, that their career advancement is slower, and that training films portraying bare-breasted women are shown.

The suit was filed Thursday in Superior Court by Laura Beard, a 7 1/2-year veteran. It seeks a permanent bar against discriminatory practices and calls for a formal policy to prohibit harassment.

Judge’s Ruling

The action comes less than a year after a judge--responding to complaints made by another female deputy--called for improvement in the department’s promotion practices with respect to women.

Beard says she knows of two other female deputies who have hired attorneys and taken steps to file similar suits.

“There is an offensive and hostile atmosphere that female deputies are forced to work under,” said Dennis M. Harley, Beard’s attorney.

Capt. Doug McClure, commander of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau, declined to discuss details of the suit.

“The department has just received a copy of the suit. It has not yet been reviewed, and therefore we have no comment to make at this time,” he said.

Beard, who has held several positions within the department, now works as an instructor in the sheriff’s SANE program, a substance abuse school education program.

“The fear of . . . retaliation has stopped a lot of women deputies from saying anything for a long time. I was of the same opinion until it got so personal. I’m not a good victim. Enough is enough. I finally had to say something,” Beard said in an interview.

Derogatory Remarks

She alleges that from the time she began working for the Sheriff’s Department in 1982, she was subjected to various “rude, crude and derogatory” remarks about women and was called names in front of supervisors and others.

The suit also alleges that when Beard complained about problems to her superiors she was subjected to what is called “stacking” of radio calls, the deliberate assignment of more radio calls than can reasonably be handled. Harley said the practice is a common one used to “punish individual employees for conduct which is viewed as being outside the ‘code of brotherhood.’ ”

Once, Beard allegedly was sent on a radio call involving a man with a gun without adequate backup. “It was a not-so-subtle way to tell her to wise up,” Harley said.

“There is no program by which the confidential complaints of sexual harassment could be made, to protect victims and witnesses against retaliation,” Harley said.

Sexist cartoons and pictures were often put on bulletin boards and passed around the stations, according to the suit. Jokes indicating that women are incapable of making appropriate decisions were often told, the suit also alleges.

A driver-safety training film depicts a bare-breasted woman to make a point that women can cause male deputies undue distraction while they are on the job, Harley said.

Harley also charged that the Sheriff’s Department newsletter printed articles of an “absurd juvenile nature.” He mentioned, for example, a story about a female deputy who allegedly made references to the size of her breasts.

Federal Court Order

The earlier lawsuit led last year to a federal court order calling for the department to promote more women. That order prohibited the department from promoting any deputies to the rank of sergeant until it instituted more equitable promotion procedures.

Beard had earlier taken formal steps to protest conditions in the department when she filed a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 1988. After an investigation, state officials found “insufficient evidence to prove violations of law in respect to her allegations,” said Steve White, department senior consultant. However, he said “that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a violation, but not enough for us to pursue at that time.”

Beard’s suit also alleges that:

- There are few females in training positions or specialized units; there is a quota on the number of female deputies that will be used in certain units or assignments; females without patrol experience cannot transfer out of a jail or other custody facility--not considered prestige positions--and do not receive promotions as easily as men. Having female deputies serve more time in jails is a detriment to career advancement.

- Female deputies are not permitted the same field training experience as males and are not permitted the same facilities for physical training. Female patrol officers are usually not allowed to work together as partners.

- Upon completion of training, females are typically assigned to work traffic car radio positions, assignments also not considered desirable.

The Sheriff’s Department does have a written non-discrimination policy, but it is “without teeth,” Harley said. “It’s not been acted upon from the top down. The top brass say they don’t want this discrimination going on, but they have done little to stop it.”