Caltrans sues former supervisor who sexually harassed employee, seeking damages repayment
The California Department of Transportation filed a lawsuit against a former supervisor this week seeking financial relief from him after a Sacramento jury found he sexually harassed another state worker at the agency.
A Sacramento judge had ordered Caltrans and Steven Medina, the former supervisor, to pay Sarah Schimpf and her legal team a total of $850,000 last year in damages and attorney’s fees.
The transportation agency asked the Sacramento Superior Court of California to compel Medina to pay some of the damages and attorney’s fees Caltrans paid Schimpf $275,000 and her legal team and $575,000. Caltrans wants Medina to reimburse the agency for part of that sum.
Medina failed to appear at trial and was not represented by an attorney.
Schimpf filed her lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court in October 2020, alleging Medina sexually harassed her for years. She said she reported Medina to the agency on multiple occasions, and Caltrans failed to prevent the harassment as required by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.
Caltrans declined to respond to a list of questions, citing pending litigation. Medina could not be reached for comment.
Medina was a Caltrans maintenance area superintendent at the time Schimpf filed the complaint, according to the filing. Schimpf was an agency employee. Court documents do not say Medina was her supervisor.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Schimpf currently works as a Caltrans office technician, though she did not immediately return a request for comment.
Schimpf and Medina had a consensual sexual relationship for three months in 2018, according to Schimpf’s complaint. In July of that year, she told Medina she no longer wanted to continue their relationship and informed him that his sexual conduct was unwelcome.
From 2018 to 2020, Medina continued harassing Schimpf by sending her unwanted messages using his Caltrans phone and email, parking outside Schimpf’s home in his Caltrans vehicle and directing others at the agency to treat her badly, the complaint alleged.
Schimpf notified Caltrans management of the harassment in December 2019. The following month she was informed that an investigation was not warranted, her complaint said.
Months later she went back to management and showed them evidence that Medina had referenced Schimpf on his public calendar.
An investigation into Schimpf’s discrimination complaint was initiated by the state agency in April 2020, but she later was told by a Caltrans manager that Medina’s harassment was “a strictly private matter” and the agency would not take any action to stop the harassment, according to court filings.
In April 2023, a Sacramento jury found Medina had severely and pervasively harassed Schimpf. The jury also concluded the state agency knew of the harassment and failed to take appropriate action to stop it.
Superior Court Judge Jill Talley ordered Caltrans and Medina to pay Schimpf $275,000 in damages. The transportation department paid Schimpf last October. Caltrans paid an additional $575,000 in attorney’s fees. Schimpf’s attorney Nicholas Scardigli did not return a request for comment.
In the agency’s filing against Medina, Caltrans said the former employee has not responded to the agency’s demand that he contribute to the damages.
Caltrans said in court filings that the agency was forced to incur attorney’s fees, court costs and expenses, in addition to paying Schimpf’s attorney’s fees, as a result of Medina’s wrongdoing.
Caltrans requested that a judge review the case and determine the proportionate share owed by Medina and five other unnamed defendants who Caltrans claims are responsible, in part, for not stopping the harassment against Schimpf.
