Jury Awards $132,000 in Harassment

An Orange County jury has awarded $132,000 to a former employee who sued St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton for discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination.

The jury found the hospital violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Family Rights Act by not acting properly when Lisa A. Grant complained about sexual harassment.

Grant’s lawsuit, filed in April 1998 in Orange County Superior Court, said the hospital ignored her sexual harassment complaints against a male co-worker. The co-worker asked Grant for two dates but she declined, according to the suit. Then he told Grant of his sexual experiences and fantasies. One day he cornered her in the file room and tried to kiss her. Finally, he wrote her a sexually suggestive poem on Valentine’s Day, the suit said.

The man is still employed at St. Jude, said Grant’s attorney, Jack Anthony.

As a result of what Anthony called an uncomfortable working environment, Grant suffered migraine headaches. The hospital denied her requests for medical leave. Grant was fired as a receptionist for St. Jude’s radiology department when she called in sick for 13 days. She had worked at the hospital for two years and three months.

This is the first time a case involving sexual harassment against St. Jude had gone to trial, said Richard Madory, the hospital’s attorney. However, Madory would not comment on how many sexual harassment cases were settled out of court.

Despite the hospital’s claims that Grant was fired because of her absences, the jury found Friday that the hospital acted unlawfully and awarded her $88,000 for general damages and emotional distress and $44,000 for economic damages. Grant was not awarded punitive damages because the jury found that St. Jude did not act maliciously.