A Los Angeles jury awarded $440 million in punitive damages Thursday to two men who alleged they were forced out of their jobs at Southern California Edison after complaining about repeated sexual and racial harassment at a South Bay office, attorneys said.
That decision came after jurors awarded $24.6 million in compensatory damages Wednesday to plaintiffs Alfredo Martinez and Justin Page, bringing the combined verdict to more than $464.6 million, said David deRubertis, one of the attorneys who represented the men.
Martinez alleged that after 16 years at Edison, he had been pushed out of his supervisor job in April 2017 by constructive termination — a claim accusing the employer of creating or permitting intolerable working conditions in order to force out a worker — after reporting widespread sexual harassment and racist language.
During the eight-week trial, lawyers for Martinez and Page presented evidence they said showed Edison’s South Bay office had a fraternity-like culture in which racial and sexual harassment was widespread, common and sometimes swept under the rug.
“These two men had the courage to stand up and report the harassment,” DeRubertis said in a statement. “SCE’s and Edison’s response was to pretend the problem was limited to a handful of bad actors, ignoring the culture of tolerance for harassment and discrimination that was bred in the South Bay office.”
DeRubertis said Edison’s management did not take the harassment seriously. “We’re incredibly...
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