Save Our Community was founded in the movement to resist Wal-Mart's development in Rosemead, California. Now, it has become a general site for news, information, gossip, talk, and blogging about Rosemead. We also have stories about South San Gabriel, San Gabriel, Montebello, and occasionally about Pico Rivera, El Monte, South El Monte, Alhambra, Temple City, and other nearby communities. Your host is Todd. If you want a blog just sign up, get approved, and start writing. Good posts will be moved onto the home page.
I can't think of a catchy
It's fair only if you follow Rosemead politics and recognize the names of the people quoted.
And it would hve been fairer if it was made clear how the JPIA insurance works. It's like if you're in a car accident, and someone sues you. If your insurance company makes a settlement offer to the other driver, you don't have the choice of saying you want to keep fighting UNLESS YOU'RE WILLING TO PICK UP ALL THE LEGAL FEES AND PAY THE FINAL SETTLEMENT YOURSELF. The $330,000 figure means that's the minimum the JPIA people think the legal fees would have run. So even if Nunez went to trial and was vindicated, he'd still be out at least $330,000.
I don't know about you, but I don't have $330,000 laying around. I doubt John Nunez does, either.
I did like that the story made clear that all of the Gary Taylor grandstanding contributed to the size of the settlement. He spent the past six months trying to undermine the city's defense. How irresponsible is that? I hope they indict his butt, and get him to pay for part of this settlement out of his own pocket.
I can't think of a catchy
300k for allegedly looking at a chest (and I guess having told some boob jokes or something in the past). I can't wait until more women get in power, because this nonsense would stop.
I don't mean that men would stop checking out women. That would continue, but women check out guys too. The sexist power relationship wouldn't be there. There'd still be a power imbalance. The problem would be good looking people getting checked out by powerful people. Though, that's a mixed curse -- if you look good or "hot", you're more likely to get ahead anyway. The only people really threatened, in the long run, would be ugly people, who'd get ranked low. "Looksism" would become an issue.
sexual harrassment
Zebra blogs: "...it's like if you're in a car accident, and someone sues you. If your insurance company makes a settlement offer to the other driver, you don't have the choice of saying you want to keep fighting"...
Zebra you're wrong! If you DID NOT hit that car, and after a thorough investigation by the ins adjusters calling all witnesses and reading a police report, ins co certainly would not pay, that is how they make their money--BY NOT PAYING WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE TO!
Night Reader blogs: "...I don't mean that men would stop checking out women. That would continue, but women check out guys too...."
Night Reader, you are absolutely correct, and had it been say Margaret Clark checking out your groin area, then commenting "wow, does he have a banana in his pocket, or just happy to see me" and you are a paid code enforcement officer (meaning a lesser position of power and you are the ONLY bread winner in your family of say 10). Yes, it would make you uncomfortable. Now, say she did it almost every time she saw you? How comfortable or uncomfortable would that make you? In legalese, they call it a "HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT".
Night Reader also blogs, "...though, that's a mixed curse -- if you look good or "hot", you're more likely to get ahead anyway"...
Good looks is subjective and vary from region to region, country to country. I think someone once said politics is for ugly people who couldn't make it in Hollywood, lol. OUCH! (Ron Paul comes to mind, Janet Reno, Golda Meir, Yassar Arafat).
sexual harrassment
My example assumed the cars were in the same place at the same time, as was undoubtedly true of Mazone and Nunez. The only question is one of "fault."
If some of the witnesses in this case have an axe to grind (again, undoubtedly true in this case), there's going to be conflicting testimony. Similar facts in a car accident, and there'll be a settlement.
sexual harrassment
Well, if Maggie Clark make me pitch a tent, those rude comments could be considered "welcome" harassment. However, such is not the case, and such comments would create a hostile work environment for me. But if she were just scoping out "the goods," I don't know if I'd consider that hostile. If she were talking about "the goods" to others... it would depend on the workplace.
In some workplaces, I'd feel free to say "hey, I think so-and-so is checking me out," just as a joke, to defuse the situation. "Lookee lookee, but no touchee!" LOLZ. In that kind of environment, if she talked about my gonads or whatever, it'd be ok with me, as long as they didn't claim to be having any access to aformentioned goods. I'd feel this way because people are openly discussing their biases, and that can reduce bias.
On the other hand, if it's a less bawdy workplace, where people don't talk about each other semi-openly, then it's not so clear-cut. At least to me.
This kind of reminds me of this funny workplace thing that goes on with men and women, where some women wear clothes with deep cleavage, and the guys are fighting to not check it out. It's tough. It's funny because the guys will bond by talking about how they're trying not to look, and the women will bond by talking about how they caught someone looking.
It's a real culture clash of sorts... kind of like an army of speedos and bikinis invading the land of burquas and business suits.
Really, sisters, we're trying hard not to look.
(I agree - politicians aren't that hot... but I've always thought Hilda Solis was cute, and Judy Chu is elegant in a Transpacific mag kind of way. Shirley Horton looks good in a regular way. Fiona Ma too. I like big girls, but there aren't many in the top spots.)
sexual harrassment
Night Reader blogs: ..."if she talked about my gonads or whatever, it'd be ok with me, as long as they didn't claim to be having any access to aformentioned goods"...
Ah ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Night Reader also blogs: ..."This kind of reminds me of this funny workplace thing that goes on with men and women, where some women wear clothes with deep cleavage, and the guys are fighting to not check it out. It's tough. It's funny because the guys will bond by talking about how they're trying not to look, and the women will bond by talking about how they caught someone looking"....
Night Reader: You are correct. There MUST be an appropriate dress code. Some Latina women (I know the race thing again, but I'm making an appropriate point) struggle in an strict dress code environment where they are not used to wearing the twin sweater set with pearls and bob haircut thing (you know, the professional Connie Chung/Diane Sawyer look). Some, because of being financially strap, end up wearing their nightclub clothes to work. These consist of short tight dresses and low cut tops. Yet, men are not supposed to glare at the obvious, but women should not think it is ok to wear a size 5, when they are obviously a size 10.
And, it does not help that old staff feel "loyality" to Jay Imperial et al. BTW, Jay was kind of known to have a "roving eye". I wonder if he ever "looked", but got a "free pass" because of who he was???
sexual harrassment
Oh yeah, you know all these guys get some kind of free pass. Jay's kid was trouble. Heck, so was Joe Vasquez. They got passes in the bad old days.
You know, I don't think the informal Latina dress code is done out of poverty, necessarily. It's a cultural norm, and it's about maintaining a kind of gender differentiation.
They're going to have to teach "how to be white and rich" in school again. Maybe it could be taught as part of a class on racism, or in econ class.
Sexual harrassment
Night Reader blogs: ..."You know, I don't think the informal Latina dress code is done out of poverty, necessarily. It's a cultural norm, and it's about maintaining a kind of gender differentiation"...
Well, I don't think people have to think very hard about Dianne Sawyer's gender, she is pretty, casual and elegant.
Night Reader also blogs: .."They're going to have to teach "how to be white and rich" in school again. Maybe it could be taught as part of a class on racism, or in econ class"...
You completely LOSS me dude!!! I see very appropriate, moderate to high fashion, sometimes even designer fashion on shoppers at Tozai Market on Potrero Grande, and they are NOT white?
Night Reader, I don't mean to blame Nunez' victim, but if women are going to flagrantly dismiss or even defy the "cultural norm" of dress code in the workplace, maybe they "deserve" to be looked at, and in this case harrassed. (just a personal opinion).
And, on this blog, at least we agree that the plantiff had a political agenda, and that her previously superiors would have probably gotten away with that same behavior because of who they were.
Sexual harrassment
I don't know the specifics of the Nunez case, and the victim may have been dressing modestly. I sure don't know.
What I meant by cultural norm is that for Latinos it's a cultural norm. It's not for other groups. Most Asian groups are more modest than Northern Europeans. Same for Middle Eastern groups. Arguably, these modest groups are "too modest" by mainstream American standards.
Also, the cultural norm might say that women should "look like women" by their standards, but, it would also say that men should not leer after looking, and should not make a pass. This is how you end up with crosscultural communication problems.
Everyone eventually needs to accept that there's a range of behaviors, and interpreting these behaviors according to a narrow, rigid standard, is going to lead to misunderstandings and prejudgements of what people are trying to present.
And on the other side of it, yes, people need to learn to conform to the narrow standard... but before they can manage to conform, they need to learn what the standards are. AND, they need to learn how to accept the standards as they are communicated, without judging them too much.
There has to be some compromise, and the compromise has to be deliberate and discussed among the people involved.
sexual harrassment
Maybe "mainstream" is more an appropriate term than "cultural norm" here.
Shoulder massages?!
I highly doubt this was just a political move. Think about it. Why would someone file a claim, then a lawsuit, put her job on the line, and force her and her family to be under a microscope. It seems that the victim has just as much to lose as Nunez does. And now look. Nunez is essentially cleared, and Mazone walks away with a settlement. Was it about the money? That I doubt too. She's got to pay attorney's fees, and half of it will likely go to taxes. Plus, she could now be considered a liability at her next job with this whole mess hanging over her head.
From what I've read, she accused Nunez of harassing her over a two year period. And you can't chalk that up to what she was wearing. Hugging, kissing, staring down someone's blouse, shoulder massages?! If a superior EVER gave me a shoulder massage I would freak out. Good for Mazone for standing up against Nunez. Whether it's a councilman or not, women or any employee should not have to take that crap - and no, not lookism, but straight up sexual harassment.
Shoulder massages?!
My opinion is that in most workplaces, if all those things happened, it could be sexual harassment if it's unwanted. Especially if it's all from one guy.
On the other hand, I have worked in some places where people do those listed things, and it's not meant sexually. Or maybe it was, but I was clueless. It depends on the workplace and the people, in my opinion. People are suspicious, because it's a politicized workplace.
(Also, I didn't mean to imply anything about how she dressed. I was just going on a tangential discussion about stuff not related to this case. I don't know anything substantial about this case except what's in the news. While I tend to think the settlement makes Nunez look guilty of what he's been accused - what if that's how people behave in that scene? Then is it okay, or is it a larger problem of male domination in City Hall (or city halls)?)
Contingency
The attorney took the case on contingency, and his fee is going to be a proportion of the $330,000. But Mazone was also kept on the payroll during this entire investigation, so she's spent the last however many months collecting full pay and benefits while staying at home. That's what some of us would call a vacation. And now she's a hero to some, and she'll have no problem finding friends of Gary or friends of Maggie or friends of Mike Lewis who will be eager to help her find a job.
sexual harrassment and shoulder massages
Night Reader blogs, "...People are suspicious, because it's a politicized workplace"...
Reply: Absolutely Night Reader. Even if some were inclined to believe some of what blogger "Oh Really" stated. In a "highly politicized atmosphere", one would also tend to believe that Ms. Mazone might have "fell on her sword" to prove "PRIDE" correct about the opposition who won council seats.
I can't think of a catchy
Let's memorialize this thread: centaur and zebra are finally in agreement.
Memorialize This
Oh yeah, Zebra is my new BFF (best friend forever)...............that is until the next controversy and post. (Enjoy it while it lasts folks)
Paid leave?
Zebra24601: "But Mazone was also kept on the payroll during this entire investigation."
Hmm. I know that Mazone was on administrative leave, but I don't remember reading that she was on paid administrative leave. Do you know something we don't?
Paid leave?
No way of knowing what you know, but I was wrong about this. She doesn’t get back pay.
This strengthens my belief that she didn’t have a strong enough case to prevail in court. She starts with $330,000, give a third of that to her lawyer, and DOESN’T get backpay? It’s still a tidy sum, but not the sort of multi-million dollar liability judgement she’d have gotten if she could prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Nunez and Rosemead broke the law. From a legal and insurance perspective, it’s chump change (but not a bad day at the office for her attorney).