South Bay : 2 El Segundo Employees File Sex, Race Harassment Suit

Two El Segundo city employees have filed a lawsuit against a former planning director alleging sexual and racial harassment and accusing top officials of ignoring their complaints, an attorney for the plaintiffs said.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Torrance Superior Court by Sara Mosleh and Naima Greffon, names former planning director Hyrum Fedje, the city and its manager, James Morrison, as defendants. The women claim that Fedje engaged in repeated sexual innuendo and became angry when they rejected his advances and that Morrison did not respond when it was brought to his attention.

Mosleh, a native of Iran, is an assistant city planner and alleges that Fedje often called her “ayatollah” and used racial epithets about her Jewish husband. Mosleh also claims that Fedje invited her to sleep over on many occasions. Greffon, originally from Algeria, also claims that Fedje made sexual advances and made references to her anatomy.

“The last thing a victim wants to do is file a lawsuit,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Beverly Grant, said. “The persons I represent have tried to get the situation rectified but this was quite a long time for the city to take steps and they didn’t.”

City attorney Leland Dolley said the lawsuit is being reviewed.