A Los Angeles County jury rendered a verdict in favor of former California State University San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus associate dean, Anissa Rogers, in the amount of six million dollars in her gender discrimination, harassment, and retaliation lawsuit against the California State University system.

Rogers and other employees reported that Palm Desert Campus Dean, Jake Zhu, harassed, and discriminated against, female employees because of their gender, but the university allegedly failed to act on these complaints and ultimately removed Rogers from her associate dean role.

The case was tried in Los Angeles Superior Court, where jurors found that Rogers was subjected to severe or pervasive gender-based mistreatment that created a hostile work environment, and that CSU did not take reasonable steps to prevent the harassment. Instead, CSU retaliated against her for speaking up.

The entire damage award was for noneconomic damages, including compensation for emotional distress and other personal harms linked to workplace gender discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

Rogers' attorneys described the outcome as a rejection of long-standing denials of gender bias within the CSU system and as a message that the institution must address what they characterized as systemic problems of gender-based mistreatment and retaliation. CSU officials publicly expressed disappointment with the verdict and indicated that the university was reviewing its options regarding possible next steps

Source: https://kesq.com/news/2025/10/22/jury-awards-former-csusb-associate-dean-6-million-in-csu-gender-discrimination-lawsuit/

Commentary

Gender bias in the workplace occurs when employees are treated differently in hiring, pay, promotion, discipline, or daily interactions because of their gender, gender identity, or gender expression, rather than their qualifications or performance. It includes unequal opportunities, stereotyping about roles or abilities, exclusion from key assignments, and tolerance of gender-based harassment or demeaning comments that affect the terms and conditions of employment.

Keeping gender bias out of the workplace is essential to comply with anti-discrimination laws, which prohibit adverse actions and harassment based on sex or gender and expose employers to significant financial and reputational risk when violated.

Beyond legal liability, unchecked bias undermines merit-based decision making, increases turnover, damages morale and productivity, and discourages reporting of concerns – all of which can allow misconduct to become hostile work environments and costly claims.

Here are some signs of gender discrimination:

·      Workers selected for termination because of factors related to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Denial of employment opportunities because of factors related to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Refusal to consider or hire an applicant or applicants because of factors related to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Pre-hire or post-offer employment tests, including physical tests, that adversely impact applicants based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Employer decisions and/or directives that adversely impact employees based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Segregation of workers based on their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Promotion of, or failure to stop, stereotypes, discrimination, and/or harassment in the workplace based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Promotion of stereotypes related to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Lack of diversity among workplace participants related to their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression

·      Failure to enforce policies promoting equality for all workers including workers of all sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions

·      Failure to enforce policies promoting inclusion of all workers including workers of all sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions