Gavin Newsom -- Who Had Workplace Affair -- Says Porn at Work a Firing Offense

• @Chris, if a CIty employee who is a manager has a sexual relationship with an employee under their management, and other employees similarly situated do not get the same preferential treatment as the employee with which the superior is having an affair, then the City is theoretically exposed for liability. Of course, this requires a plaintiff, and I don't exactly see a political appointee taking Newsom or the City to court over the matter. They'd just arrange hush money if they did. -marc

• I don't disagree with your comments about Gavin Newsom's hypocrisy. (Although, I would note that having sexual relations with a subordinate, though never a good idea, does not in and of itself constitute sexual harassment. The issue is whether the relationship involved some sort of explicit or implied quid pro quo, or whether it reasonably gave other employees the impression that such quid pro quo relationships were encouraged in the workplace). In the case the Planning Department employees' pattern of sending sexually explicit emails, the law on sexual harassment is quite clear. The City could potentially be exposed to serious legal liability if it did not take swift and effective action to address the issue of sexually explicit material being disseminated in the workplace, and such action, includes appropriately disciplining (and this may involve firing) the individuals who disseminated such material and their managers who knew about the emails and failed to take action. The sexually explicit emails were not a one-time incident, the individuals involved sent numerous inappropriate emails over a long period of time. Quite simply, these individuals should have known better, and the fact that they apparently did not calls into questions their professional judgment. I am much less concerned with the content of the emails than I am with the gross negligence and/or stupidity of the individuals who thought it would be a good idea to send off sexually explicit emails at work. I could care less about what people do at home on their own personal email (I've probably sent off a few raunchy emails myself), but at work this sort of behavior can create a hostile work environment and get both the offending employee and the employer in serious legal trouble.

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