Rapes alleged at Genentech: Six female janitors sue maintenance company for hostile work environment, DA reviewing criminal charges

They are women who trauma experts say are often overlooked as they work late hours cleaning up after others and whose stories may be difficult to corroborate — an issue that led prosecutors to initially decline criminal charges against at least one man accused of rape, assault and sodomy by multiple women.

The lawsuits are against Somers Building Maintenance, or SBM, a company Genentech began contracting with for janitorial services in 2011, according to the complaints filed by two different firms in October and December. SBM adamantly denies the allegations.

The local biotech company is not listed as a defendant and reportedly settled with at least some of the women prior to the civil case, said Liberation Law Group attorney Arlo Garcia.

Garcia, who is representing four of the women and two union representatives who were reportedly fired for trying to help, said the case is disturbing. Many of the women, some of whom were immigrants, were terrified of losing the jobs on which they depended. Furthermore, they were victimized by men who leveraged their vulnerable positions against them, Garcia said.

“A lot of this is companies thinking they do not have to investigate claims or abuses suffered by immigrant employees,” Garcia said. “They did not respect these women or the pain they were going through.”

A Genentech spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending litigation involving a vendor, but that they, she wrote in an email, “value and respect everyone working on Genentech’s campus. We are committed to maintaining a positive work environment free of unlawful harassment, and we have an anti-harassment policy in place.”

Assault after hours

According to the lawsuits, Genentech officials and SBM executives were notified that multiple women had reported assaults. Collectively, the lawsuits name 10 men employed by SBM whose alleged discriminatory behavior ranged from making explicit and derogatory sexual statements, to forcibly raping some of the women multiple times while at work on the Genentech campus, according to court documents.

The allegations include off-site incidents, but the majority occurred at the Genentech campus at a building where animals are kept and janitors cleaned cages, a laundry room, men’s as well as women’s restrooms and under an office desk, according to the lawsuits. In one case, a woman was allegedly raped on the floor of the “mothers’ room” — an area Genentech provides for nursing moms.

The women also faced threats by their alleged abusers that they could lose their jobs, have their work hours reduced or even have their family members physically harmed if they spoke out, according to the lawsuits.

When speaking up didn’t work

But most of the women did speak out to Genentech site managers, SBM executives, their union representatives and even police. In turn, many of the women were fired from their jobs and criminal cases against two of the men, including the most egregious alleged rapist, were never prosecuted; according to the lawsuits, South San Francisco Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office.

Abuse against immigrant women, particularly janitors who work late at night, is a tragically unfortunate reality, said Cindy Marroquin, a counselor and education program manager with Rape Trauma Services in Burlingame.

“They’re put in a very vulnerable position because there aren’t other people around. And the supervisors, in a majority of these cases, are men and they have a lot of power. They’re the key to their paychecks, the key to their jobs and physically, they have a lot of power over them,” Marroquin said. “They use that vulnerability to target them, unfortunately it’s very, very common.”

She noted how these women are often “invisible” to the people they clean up after, adding society can help empower them by simply recognizing their value.

But many are afraid to speak up about abuses often due to immigration status or a general fear of law enforcement. And as with many sex assaults, it can be a “he said, she said” case, she said.

Whether language barriers come into play, or they have trouble clearly expressing their stories because of resulting trauma, Marroquin said law enforcement and prosecutors should consider context before dismissing charges due to a lack of corroboration.

Tough to prosecute

South San Francisco police referred at least three cases to the District Attorney’s Office around 2013-14. It’s currently unclear whether the cases were specific to the women in the lawsuit, but they did cover two of the men named in the lawsuit.

Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said police submitted a referral for prosecutors to consider charges against one of the men, including felony rape by force or fear, sexual battery and sodomy in concert with another.

She said prosecutors initially felt there was insufficient corroboration and declined to file charges against a man the civil lawsuits allege raped at least two women on multiple occasions at Genentech.

“We always take the allegations seriously, but we have ethical obligations about filing charges against people and we don’t file charges unless we have a good faith belief that there’s a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Guidotti said.

But, she noted the cases were originally submitted and reviewed separately. The District Attorney’s Office has since pulled all of the cases and will reconsider them collectively.

Employer’s role

Genentech is one of the largest employers in San Mateo County while SBM reports working in over five countries with a client portfolio that includes Fortune 500 companies like Amazon and Starbucks. SBM, which contracts with companies to provide maintenance services such as janitors, is accused of overlooking the women’s complaints, terminating some of them after speaking about the abuse, as well as firing two male union representatives who attempted to help, according to the lawsuit.

SBM did not respond to requests for information as to whether the man who is accused of rape is still employed by the company.

However, Paul Emperador, vice president of SBM’s Human Resources, disputed the claims.

“SBM strongly denies the allegations in the lawsuit and intends to vigorously defend itself. As soon as SBM was made aware of any complaints by the plaintiffs we conducted a prompt, comprehensive and effective investigation,” Emperador wrote in an email.

He emphasized the employees were covered under a union agreement with strong anti-harassment provisions under which they could have filed a grievance. He also noted some of the women complained months or years after the alleged incidents took place and that a few of the incidents occurred before SBM started at Genentech.

“SBM has a strong policy against workplace discrimination and harassment that is disseminated to all employees upon hire,” Emperador wrote. “We have a strong record of providing a safe workplace for our employees.”

Garcia, who is representing six of the plaintiffs, said the companies did not fully investigate until after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission considered the discrimination claims and agreed his clients had a right to sue both SBM and Genentech.

Garcia said the South San Francisco biotech company settled with some of the women after the EEOC’s decision and prior to the civil complaint filing, although he couldn’t specify details due to confidentiality clauses.

Lisa Mak, an attorney representing two women, said she couldn’t comment on pending litigation or why Genentech was not a defendant in her October lawsuit.

But having covered employment disputes for the last eight years, Mak noted janitorial staff and women such as her clients are often marginalized and face abuse.

“This is a vulnerable community of workers and a lot of them are immigrants, they have language barriers … a lot of them are uneducated and they’re working low-wage jobs and they need to work to put food on the table and support their families,” Mak said. “But like all other employees in any other industry, their employment rights need to be respected. They should be able to work in an environment that is free of discrimination and sexual harassment and in an environment where if they do have concerns, they should be able to talk about them without fear of retaliation.”

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

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