California woman wins $168 million sexual harassment lawsuit

Sacramento, CA- A California women has won $168 million for a sexual harassment lawsuit which could be one of the largest settlements for a case of this nature.

Ani Chopourian and her sexual harassment attorney filed the lawsuit against Sacramento’s Mercy General Hospital and its parent company Catholic Healthcare West in 2008. The jury awarded her $125 million in punitive damages and $42.7 million for lost wages.

Chopourian worked as a cardiac surgical assistant between 2006 and 2008. In her lawsuit, Chopourian said that she was repeatedly subjected to inappropriate comments and unwanted sexual advances on the behalf of doctors and other employees.

“I was slapped on the backside and grabbed repeatedly, sometimes is front of supervisors, when I said do something, they would laugh,” Chopourian said.

After enduring the abuse, Chopourian took her complaints to human resources, which were dismissed. She finally documented the harassment and sent a certified letter to Human Resources.  A week later she was terminated.

Sexual harassment lawyers are often called upon when an employee is subjected to retaliation from their employers.

Mercy General and their parent company Dignity Health, formally Catholic Healthcare West, released a statement vowing they would appeal the decision and assert that they take allegations of sexual harassment seriously.

Most businesses say they take allegations harassment seriously, but sexual harassment attorneys deal with many cases where the issue is either ignored or action is taken against the person filing the complaint. Laws are meant to protect people from hostile working environments.