An American lawyer who was dismissed from the San Francisco district attorney’s office after he sent sexually explicit mail with a “reply all” feature to an official mail is now suing his employers. Jovan Thomas filed a complaint in Superior Court against Interim District Attorney of San Francisco Brooke Jenkins, her office and other employees for “invasion of privacy, defamation and infliction of severe emotional distress”. Back in January, the 56-year-old was terminated from his position after he accidentally responded to an office-wide email sent by Brooke Jenkins with “What colour panties you have on.”
In his complaint, Jovan Thomas explained that he was texting an old friend in his “goofy, playful” way. At the same time, the email by Brooke Jenkins popped up and he replied to that instead of his friend, reported siliconvalley.com. As per Jovan Thomas, he immediately apologised for this humiliating error in another email but he was nonetheless removed from his job on the same day.
Initially, he was told that his job termination was labelled as a layoff rather than “termination for cause.” A week later, he was told his termination was categorised as “termination was for cause.” In the following days, the incident made headlines across the country. Additionally, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office issued a statement that described Jovan Thomas’ email as “misogynistic behaviour.”
Jovan Thomas also alleges in the lawsuit that Brooke Jenkins and other office employees got in touch with the press and made “false, fraudulent, malicious and humiliating statements” about him. He is now seeking a jury trial and requesting compensatory and punitive damages.
It is interesting to note that Jovan Thomas has previously been accused of sexual harassment by a woman he once represented, revealed The San Francisco Standard. She subsequently filed a complaint in the San Francisco County Superior Court in September 2018, against Jovan Thomas and the district attorney’s office.
The woman, who remained anonymous, claimed that Jovan Thomas was handling her case related to robbery and gang violence targeting her and her son. Reportedly, Jovan Thomas strayed away from professionalism and made sexual advances towards. She said that the attorney inappropriately touched her at the Bayview Victim Services office where she met him to discuss her case. The woman said that she felt pressured to reciprocate his actions for the fear that she wouldn’t get victim’s services if she declined. In 2021, this case was dismissed by the judge.
Comments
0 comment