Laguna Beach : City Settles Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

A sexual harassment lawsuit against Laguna Beach by a former employee who alleged that stress and a hostile work environment forced her from her job was settled this week when the City Council approved a $40,000 payment.

Marion L. Roubanis, who worked for the city’s Municipal Services Department from June, 1989, to February, 1992, alleged that male co-workers had urged her to wear tight clothes, discuss her sex life and look at nude magazine pictures. She also claimed that her supervisors failed to help when she complained.

In a memo to the council, City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said that some employees had conducted themselves in a “less than stellar manner on several occasions” but that management and supervisory personnel had responded to Roubanis’ complaints “in a reasonable manner.”

The settlement was negotiated last week at the end of the first day of what was expected to be a two-week trial. The suit was filed last year.

According to the memo, the city’s attorney predicted that the city had “a good chance” of prevailing. But Frank and the attorney recommended the settlement because it was “simply not cost-effective” to proceed with the trial, the memo said.

The settlement was unanimously endorsed by the council without discussion on Tuesday.

During the time of her employment, Roubanis was the only woman working in the Municipal Services Department’s mechanical maintenance division, which now has a female supervisor. Her job duties included fueling and washing buses and inspecting city police cars.

Roubanis alleged that she was harassed by about six male co-workers, including one who put dirty underwear in her locker. Eventually, the suit alleged, co-workers stopped speaking to Roubanis and she felt forced to leave the “hostile and abusive work environment.”

The city responded to the lawsuit by saying that city employees “took immediate and effective action every time (Roubanis) lodged a complaint” and that she was offered, but rejected, other employment options with the city.

A workers’ compensation claim filed by Roubanis against the city was settled for $10,000 earlier this year.

Roubanis could not be reached for comment Thursday.