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So did you get laid this week? Sexual harrassment in San Antonio

My girlfriend Cecilia just left her job at Amed Community Hospice where she was a social worker for terminally ill patients. Why did she leave after two years there? Because of a man named Chris Sitton, the Bereavement and Volunteer Coordinator, 40 years old, married with a child.

Cecilia is a serious, 46 year-old woman, who tells me she loved her job, and that it was very difficult for her to say goodbye to her patients and their families. It isn't easy, or professional, to leave patients who are facing death.

But Sitton asked her constantly about her sexual life, she says. He whacked her on her derriere with a newspaper, and asked her things like "So did you get laid this week?" I know what this feels like, and most women I know have encountered sexual harrassment in their lives. But few of us actually fight back.

Cecilia told me Sitton harrasses others, but she refused to accept it to keep her job. She went to EEOC, and filed a complaint. Amed In the meantime, Amed has offered her $500 which she's rejected, along with a a letter of recommendation. But she doesn't want their bribes. She knows Sitton goes drinking with Tim Wagner, one of the executives, and Sitton has in fact been promoted - to Marketing.

Cecilia was only one of two latina social workers in San Antonio, where half of the patients are latino. It's easy to see why she's good at this kind of work -- she listens, she's empathetic, she's generous, the kind of person you'd want to be by your side if you were about to die.

She has a new job that begins on Monday.

Comments

Unknown said…
Cecilia made the right move when she refused to accept the bribe offered by Amed Community Hospice. Her decision to leave the place is a courageous way of fighting for her right. It is just saddening that Amed did not help her, and worst, it even promoted the harasser Sitton. Many patients relied on the sincerity and generosity of Cecilia, and her resignation from the hospice is a great loss, not only to the hospice, but also to the patients who counted on her.

Alana Gorecki

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