NOW Rally Publicizes Harassment Allegations : Women: The group backs two former employees of a Tarzana mortgage office. They accuse an ex-manager of improper behavior.

Members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) demonstrated in front of Countrywide Mortgage’s Tarzana branch Wednesday to publicize a sexual harassment case against the national financial corporation brought by two former loan officers there.

Carrying placards that read “Countrywide Bites” and “Sexual Abuse is Countrywide,” the small group of demonstrators also protested a gag order that bars the plaintiffs and their attorneys from discussing the case, filed two years ago in Van Nuys Superior Court.

“We’re here to be the voices for these women,” said Rebecca Wickliff, president of NOW’s San Fernando Valley/Northeast Los Angeles chapter.

“How are women going to come forward if they see this kind of treatment in the courts and at work?”

Countrywide officials defended the company’s record on the issue and said NOW was being used as a pawn in the continuing litigation. The case is scheduled for mediation June 30 and the demonstration was organized to embarrass the company into a settlement, said Countrywide spokeswoman Laura Lippman.

“We are saddened by the fact that the National Organization for Women has permitted itself to be used by the plaintiffs in this case in an effort to pressure us to settle what we believe to be a baseless case,” said a written statement issued by Countrywide’s Pasadena headquarters.

The lawsuit accuses former Tarzana branch manager Joseph Castaneda of sexually harassing loan officers Tamla Marie Longoria and Linda D. Wanek by grabbing their breasts, following them into the women’s bathroom and simulating sexual intercourse while standing behind them.

The women’s attorney, Ron Martinetti of Glendale, said Wednesday that Castaneda was forced to resign in August after a former Tarzana co-worker said in a sworn deposition that Castaneda had made offensive remarks about women in the office.

Martinetti said Longoria and Wanek were forced out of the company after they were transferred to branches farther away from their homes and isolated from other employees after the filing of their lawsuit.

“They were given the mushroom treatment--put in a dark corner and people would throw garbage on them,” Martinetti said. “Their lives were made miserable.”

Lippman, the Countrywide spokeswoman, denied that Castaneda’s resignation was connected to the lawsuit, saying “he left on his own.” She offered no other details.

She also denied that Longoria and Wanek were punished for filing suit, saying the women’s transfers amounted to equal or shorter commuting distances and in one case, involved a higher paying position.

About 10 women took up the cause for Longoria and Wanek Wednesday by flashing anti-Countrywide signs before passing traffic in the 19000 block of Ventura Boulevard. At one point, a tenant of the mini-mall containing Countrywide’s Tarzana office came over to complain that the protesters were driving away customers.

The tenant, who refused to give his name, addressed his complaints to NOW publicity director Jan Tucker.

“Are you talking to me, sir, because I’m the only man in the group?” Tucker asked him, his voice rising in indignation.

“I want to speak to whoever’s in charge,” the unidentified businessman said.

“Well, that’s me,” Wickliff said.

NOW members also demonstrated at Countrywide’s Pasadena headquarters in March, distributing leaflets encouraging victims of sexual harassment to come forward.

Similar leaflets passed out Wednesday cited another sexual harassment case against Countrywide, filed in 1990, that accused a company official in Arizona of raping an employee after an office dinner party.

No criminal charges were filed against the man and the lawsuit was settled out of court, Lippman said. She said the accused man left Countrywide in September and denied that his resignation was connected to the case.