Male California police officer sues male supervisor for sexual harassment

When you hear of a sexual harassment case, what’s the first thing that pops up? Definitely, man vs. woman is the first idea, and the man is, most times, the abuser.

In California, a male police officer is suing a male supervisor for sexual harassment. We live in an open society where men are dating other men, and women are into other women. But that does not warrant any foul sexual misconduct, male or female.

The Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

In the lawsuit, officer Martin Herrera, mentions Sergeant Andrew Velebil as the perpetrator. And the abuse seems to have stretched over numerous shifts from 2016 to 2017.

In this case, both the city of Baldwin Park and the sergeant have been stated as the defendant. The hired workplace sexual harassment attorneys in California reached out to both parties, but both declined to make any comments.

The officer had a duty to his fellow policemen against such abuse. He claims that the sergeant had made continuously sexually motivated conversations while he was nude in the police station’s locker room.

He also stated that Sgnt. Andrew used to look at his penis during these awkward conversations. In addition to that, Herrera claimed the sergeant stalked him and even asked him out on dates, although he informed him that he was not homosexual.

As if that is not enough, on November 25th, in 2017, Andrew Velebil requested Herrera as back up at a traffic stop. On arrival, the plaintiff found no car pulled over, and what transpired was unethical. Velebil cursed at him and then proceeded to pin him against his vehicle and continued scolding him. On that same night, the sergeant threatened the officer to punish him for other matters he failed to handle appropriately. All these allegations were included in his lawsuit.

Survivors Took No action After the Allegations 

The officer had approached his superiors to report the abuse, but his reports fell on deaf ears. Instead, the supervisors gave the whole issue the cold shoulder.

This treatment then spread to other department supervisors who retaliated by preventing him from using his shotgun and sending him on overwhelmingly busy shifts. This then prevented him from responding to call-out requests and, more so, keeping him away from the opportunity to join the Police department SWAT team that he was very qualified for.

This then prompted his approach to getting a sexual harassment lawyer to file his case.

Workplace sexual harassment attorneys in California find this case as one in a million. However, they seem to be under the radar now brought to light by officer Martin.

In November 2019, the police department supervisors said the complaints were unfounded, and they denied all allegations filed.

Tristan Pelayes, one of Herrera’s workplace sexual harassment attorneys in California, stated that officer Martin just wants to be left alone by sergeant Velebil. He also mentioned that officer Martin wants equal opportunity as other officers and, most importantly, not to be sexually harassed.

The officer is filing for monetary compensation as well as his right to work without being abused through a sexual harassment lawyer.

They are both still employed by the department.  Hollywood sexual harassment cases [like here] get more convictions than Police officer who are accused.

This case against Baldwin park is not the first. Two of the city’s eight police chiefs have sued the city as well, and one of them was awarded 7 million dollars for a gender discrimination case.

 

Feature Image by Anja?#helpinghands #solidarity#stays healthy? from Pixabay