Local News in Brief : Sex Bias Officer Slated

Responding to concerns that Los Angeles County employees may be reluctant to report incidents of sexual harassment, the county’s top affirmative action official said Monday that he will name a special officer to hear complaints.

Robert Arias, the county’s affirmative action compliance officer, said he will appoint a special liaison to listen informally to allegations of sexual discrimination or harassment. The action came after the county Commission on Women had indicated that some women employees were reluctant to speak to county investigators, he said.

The reluctance stemmed from fears that any discussion of possible sexual harassment would automatically initiate a county probe, Arias said. The new appointee will be someone who can discuss reports of alleged harassment and check into them informally without necessarily opening a discrimination case, he said.

Arias said that, since last August, his office has received about 10 to 15 inquiries of sexual harassment from the county’s 70,000-member work force. Five of those inquiries led to formal investigations and one resulted in disciplinary measures against a county manager, Arias said.