City Workers Report Bias, Sex Harassment in Survey

A survey of city employees shows while that four out of five workers believe Pasadena is a good place to work, almost half said they have experienced discrimination on the job and one in five said they have been sexually harassed at work.

The city sent out surveys to 1,900 employees and received 1,401 completed replies. The results were recently released to employees.

The survey asked city employees for their opinions on topics from computer training to whether an individual would recommend working for Pasadena to a friend.

In a category called the “Big Picture,” 75% said they would recommend employment with the city to a friend, 81% believed the city to be a great place to work and 93% believe their work helped the community.

But while most said sexual harassment and discrimination were not tolerated in the work area, 21% said they had been sexually harassed and 45% said they had personally experienced discrimination.

Lance Charles, the city’s affirmative action director, said the number of employees who say they have been harassed or discriminated against may reflect incidents that took place decades ago because the survey did not set a time period.