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	PRESS RELEASE July 17, 2002 Jury faults City of El Cerrito for not responding to complaints of assistant coach’s sexual misconduct El Cerrito, California On July 16, 2002, the City of El Cerrito was hit with a jury award in excess of $100,000 for failing to respond to complaints about sexually inappropriate behavior by an 18-year-old, male assistant swim coach employed by the City. After less than three hours of deliberation, a Contra Costa County jury found in favor of the City’s former head swim coach, Blythe Lucero, in her wrongful termination lawsuit. Ms. Lucero brought suit after she was forced to resign her position rather than stand by while the City did nothing in response to her repeated complaints about the sexually inappropriate conduct of assistant coach Kabu Nietschmann. The jury found that the City violated California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act by subjecting Ms. Lucero to a sexually hostile work environment and constructively terminating her in violation of public policy. Leslie Levy and Jean Hyams of the Oakland-based law firm, Boxer & Gerson, represented Ms. Lucero. Blythe Lucero began working as the head coach for El Cerrito in 1997. The competitive youth swimming program which Ms. Lucero headed was for children ages 4-18, with the majority of the swimmers in the 9-13 year-old range. From the time she joined the City to run the youth program until her departure on May 5, 2000, the team grew from 8 to over 100 swimmers and became a vibrant competitive swim program. Ms. Lucero also coached the City’s Masters, a competitive swim team of adults. Ms. Lucero and two other swim coaches testified that they witnessed Coach Nietschmann engage in what they considered to be inappropriate physical contact with a 16-year-old female swimmer over a few months beginning in February 2000. Ms. Lucero testified that she had previously noticed the coach engage in similar behavior for a brief period of time with a 14-year-old female swimmer. The conduct described by the plaintiff and the other witnesses ranged from kissing and hugging to one incident when Ms. Lucero opened the locked lifeguard room to find Coach Nietschmann on top of the 16-year-old on the first aid bed. Trial testimony of the plaintiff, former City Attorney Howard Stern, head of human resources Sandy Chapek, recreation department head Monica Kortz, and Ms. Lucero’s supervisor Samantha Kelman established that the head coach made repeated complaints, some of them in writing, and that the assistant coach was engaging in "inappropriate, intimate contact" with female swimmers. The City Attorney admitted at trial that Ms. Lucero contacted him in late March or early April expressing concern for the City’s potential liability in the situation and described the behavior she saw as "like sex with clothes on." The only action the City ever took in response to Ms. Lucero’s complaint was one occasion when Nietschmann’s supervisor, Samantha Kelman, told him and the 16-year-old girl that they should "take it off the premises" if they were having a relationship or dating. Moreover, the City’s employees acknowledged at trial that they did not have any policy prohibiting coaches from engaging in sexual relationships with swimmers, including underage swimmers. Even after this lawsuit was filed, and to this day, the City has failed to adopt a policy prohibiting sexual contact between adult swim coaches and minor swimmers, despite the fact that major swimming associations have such prohibitions as part of their codes of conduct. At the end of April, frustrated that nothing was being done and concerned about the safety of the young female swimmers, Ms. Lucero told her supervisor that she would quit if no action was taken to stop the behavior of the coach. In the beginning of May, 2000, three managers from the City finally met with Ms. Lucero. Ms. Lucero arrived at the meeting prepared with a list of complaints about the young coach’s inappropriate behavior with swimmers as well as examples of his refusal to follow workplace rules. Based on testimony at trial, none of the three managers who attended the meeting read the list during the meeting or before Ms. Lucero left the City’s employ two days later. According to the managers, Ms. Lucero was unable to provide specific descriptions of behavior that gave them concern. Ms. Lucero testified that the various managers made comments at the meeting excusing the assistant coach’s behavior as "age-appropriate" and because he was a "valued employee." The head of human resources stated at trial that she did not understand the word "intimate" in Ms. Lucero’s list to mean anything sexual. It was undisputed at trial that none of the managers in the May meeting offered to investigate Ms. Lucero’s allegations or take any action to stop Coach Nietschmann’s behavior. Ms. Lucero told them she could not run a swim program that put swimmers at risk and that she would have to quit unless the City took some action to assure the safety of the children under her supervision. The City managers responded by asking when her last day would be. A few days later, after seeing high school swim season to a close, Ms. Lucero resigned her position, having not heard from the City about any plan to take action to stop the behavior she was witnessing. "Leaving my teams was the hardest thing I have ever done," states Ms. Lucero. "I still miss those swimmers every day. But it was the right thing to do. I am so grateful that the jury recognized that." According to Ms. Levy, "No employee should be forced to choose between her job and the safety of the young people in her care. It is our hope that the City of El Cerrito will finally take a cue from the major athletic associations and adopt a policy prohibiting any type of sexual conduct between coaches and athletes." Contacts Leslie Levy Jean Hyams 510.835.8870 Lynx-Eyed Marketing Andrea Snedeker 510.919.2324 << BACK