Temporary workers allege harassment by fellow Fender guitarists

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LOS ANGELES Four men who worked for a temp agency at Fender Musical Instruments Corp. in Corona are suing both companies, alleging they were sexually harassed by a co-worker whose behavior was condoned for too long by management and human resources.

The lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court was filed Friday by Daniel Gutierrez, Hector Geronimo De Rosas, John Taliaferro V and Jorge Mercado, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting sexual harassment. The quartet also names Cornerstone Staffing Solutions Inc. as a defendant.

Plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for their alleged emotional distress. Representatives for Fender and Cornerstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thanks to Cornerstone staff, Gutierrez has worked in Fender’s Corona warehouse as a sander since March 2022; De Rosas was employed there as a sander and handler from April to June 2022; Taliaferro has been working as an on-site washer since September 2021; and Mercado had a sander job there from February to June 2022, depending on the suit.

Another recruitment agency was also assigned to Fender by a female guitar inspector. In March 2022, the woman began making inappropriate sexual comments at work to Gutierrez and some of her other male colleagues, several of whom were teenagers, the lawsuit says.

The woman also allegedly frequently touched Gutierrez and her male colleagues in a sexually inappropriate manner several times a week, nonstop even after receiving disapproving looks from Gutierrez, according to the suit.

“Mr. Gutierrez was offended by the inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances, comments and/or remarks,” according to the lawsuit. He also objected to Fender and Cornerstone’s alleged failure to take prompt action despite numerous complaints to management and human resources from Gutierrez’s colleagues, the lawsuits say.

De Rosas alleges that the woman asked him “virtually daily” personal questions about his body and his regularity of intimacy.

“Each time, the plaintiff De Rosas looked at her strangely because her sexual behavior made him very uncomfortable, but he was afraid to say anything because he had just started his job at Fender and did not want to not get in trouble,” according to the lawsuit. .

A month after Taliaferro began working at the Fender warehouse, the co-worker began making inappropriate remarks to her, the lawsuit says. She also “run her fingers along” Taliaferro’s spine in a sexually provocative manner and grabbed him from behind, according to the suit.

The co-worker’s alleged sexual harassment continued despite two complaints from Taliaferro, who was later singled out for retaliation by the woman and a supervisor, including for using her phone while on the job, even if other workers have done the same without reprimand, the suit states.

The woman showed pornographic videos on her phone to another male colleague and a male worker quit over her alleged sexual harassment, according to the complaint.

Like Taliaferro, Mercado also alleges the guitar inspector ran her fingers down her back and says she ignored her pleas to be professional.

“Instead, she began to show more attitude towards Mercado by making his job harder and being stricter in his inspections of his guitar work and complaining that he had a bad attitude” , says the lawsuit.

Last June, Taliaferro and Mercado were asked by Human Resources to provide a written statement about their complaints and more than a week later, the colleague was removed from Taliaferro’s work area so that his recruiting agency could investigate her, according to the lawsuit.

“In summary, the plaintiffs were all subjected to a pattern and practice of third-party sexual harassment,” according to the lawsuit, which further alleges that Fender and Cornerstone management knew or should have known of his behavior.

Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.

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