Bradley, Woo Call for Studies of Sexual Harassment Complaints, Policy

Spurred by national attention focused on the issue of sexual harassment, Mayor Tom Bradley and City Councilman Michael Woo on Wednesday made separate calls for a survey of complaints of unwelcome sexual advances in the city’s work force.

The requests were prompted by the contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on allegations of sexual harassment made against Clarence Thomas, whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed Tuesday.

Bradley directed the city’s Personnel Department and the Commission on the Status of Women to recommend within 30 days any revisions needed to make the city’s 10-year-old policy on sexual harassment more protective of employees.

Under current guidelines, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that interfere with a person’s work performance or create an intimidating or offensive working environment.

Department managers are instructed to advise employees that their complaints should be reported to their immediate supervisors. Where violations of city policy are found to have occurred, managers are required to take disciplinary action.

Bradley asked the departments to review existing sexual harassment complaint procedures as well as training programs addressing the responsibility of managers to report such incidents.

“We all hope that the national debate that has followed the confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas will result in an increased awareness about the plight of those who are mistreated in the work force,” Bradley said in a letter to the department and the commission.

“I believe it is time to re-educate our work force, local businesses and the public about our policy,” Bradley said.

At a news conference, Woo agreed, saying: “In the aftermath of the outcry about the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill case, it is essential . . . to show we take charges of sexual harassment seriously.”

Woo said he will introduce a motion to the City Council on Friday asking that the Personnel Department prepare a report within 30 days on the number of sexual harassment cases filed in each of the city’s 40 departments, the length of time it took to investigate the incidents and the disposition of each case.

Acknowledging that he had not looked closely at Bradley’s request, Woo said his proposal was more comprehensive because “we are asking for specific numbers and more specific factual data.”

Jim Nichimuro, administrator of the Personnel Department’s Equal Opportunity Employment Office, said reports of sexual harassment have been few.

Over the past year, no more than 10 such cases have been reported among the city’s 11,400 full-time female employees, Nichimuro said.

“I don’t see anything wrong with them asking for this information,” Nichimuro said.

“But I don’t think we’re going to find a slew of sexual harassment complaints.”

Paula Petrotta, executive director of the Commission on the Status of Women, said the low figures may reflect changes made in city policy in 1989 after a study found “a significant number of female employees had experienced sexual harassment.”

“The findings were significant enough for us to strengthen the city’s policy by, among other things, requiring that every department have a sexual harassment counselor, and by training department managers how to recognize the problem and what to do about it,” she said.