Sheffield

Betra Thompson (Thompson), a coworker of Tina Sheffield (Appellant) called Appellant at home and asked for a date. Appellant declined with an emphatic “No!” The next day, at the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services (County), the place where they both work, numerous calls were made to Appellant’s work phone by Thompson. A complaint was made to a supervisor who took no affirmative action, and the supervisor decided to wait and see what happened. Within a week matters had deteriorated to such an extent that Thompson ended up attacking Appellant at her desk. Appellant filed a claim pursuant to the California Tort Claims Act and obtained a right to sue letter from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (Department) under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). County’s motion for summary judgment was granted on the basis that there was no showing that there was a hostile work environment. We have concluded the issue of whether there was a hostile work environment was a factual question for the trier of fact to resolve. Accordingly, we reve a the judgment.

Statement of Facts

In October 1997 Appellant and Thompson were coworkers at…