KPIX-TV Sued Over Harassment

Four women sued a San Francisco television station Tuesday, contending that they were sexually harassed at work and subjected to retaliation, including one firing, when they complained to the government.

“For the past year, KPIX-TV has been covering stories on sexual harassment and discrimination, and practicing it,” attorneys for the women said in a statement.

The Superior Court lawsuit said the women, who worked in the sales department, were the targets of unwanted and offensive sexual comments by their boss, Kenneth Williams, the station’s general sales manager.

The women said a complaint to the station last November was fruitless, and a formal complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this March was met by company reprisals. One of the women, Cindy Botsios, who had been recently promoted, was fired in May.

Besides Botsios, who was hired by the station in 1988, the suit identified the plaintiffs as Jill Williams, the station’s sales promotion director since 1985; Kelly Mock, a sales secretary hired in 1987, and Florence Weiss, the station’s sales operations manager.