CA Workers Can Sue Boss for Disruptive Office Romance

By Matt Green

Published on September 06, 2005

In late August, the California Supreme Court said workers are allowed to sue their boss for showing favoritism toward sexual partners or for making other employees uncomfortable by discussing the affair.

The high court ruling stems from a lawsuit by two Department of Corrections employees. Edna Miller and Frances Mackey sued their boss, Lewis Kuykendall, for favoring female employees he had sex with, then retaliating against workers who complained about the favoritism.

Kuykendall, a chief deputy warden at a California prison, had a concurrent affair with his secretary and two other subordinates. While at work, the three women sometimes squabbled over Kuykendall.

Kuykendall gave a promotion to one of his lovers, passing over the plaintiffs. Miller and Mackey separately complained. Another supervisor -- a friend of Kuykendall -- physically assaulted one of the plaintiffs. Both employees eventually resigned and filed lawsuits.

A Sacramento trial court found that Kuykendall's behavior didn't constitute sexual harassment because his actions equally disfavored both genders. A state appeals court agreed.

California justices reversed these rulings, pointing to a 1990 statement by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It said widespread favoritism for sex creates a hostile work environment. The justices said favoritism demeans women as "management's sexual playthings."

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