A former San Francisco District Attorney’s Office employee is suing his workplace for wrongful termination — nearly six months after he was fired for sending a bizarre and explicit message to his coworkers in an email thread.
Jovan Thomas, a former victims’ advocate in the district attorney’s office, was fired in January after he clicked “reply all” and sent a sexually explicit email to his entire office — including District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
In an email conversation planning an event in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was tortured and killed in 1998, Thomas sent his co-workers the message: “What color underwear do you wear? is using”. The exchange was later leaked in photos posted on Twitter.
In the lawsuit filed Friday, Thomas’ lawyers claimed the original message was intended for a friend who was burying his father in New Zealand. “Hoping to cheer up his friend, who was distraught and mourning the death of his father, the complainant intended to text the friend a joking question, of the type that the complainant had sent to his friend on a few occasions in the past .”
The lawsuit describes the comment as a “whimsical comment that was part of Plaintiffs’ standard joking repertoire” and alleged that the email “did not have any sexual, distasteful, obscene, misogynistic or sexist meaning or intent,” simply intended as a “ goofy, inconsequential.”
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Seconds after the first email, Thomas sent a follow-up email trying to explain the comment. “While texting with my fraternity brother, I sent a very inappropriate email. The email was a joke,” Thomas wrote back to the office. He also “sincerely apologizes[d]” to his coworkers and said “ please know that this is not who I am as a person, as I behave with respect and dignity especially.
Another follow-up email from Chief Assistant District Attorney Ana Gonzalez said “the matter is being handled by management” and instructed other officials to delete Thomas’ first message.
Thomas was later fired, office spokesman Randy Quezada confirmed to Chronicle of San Francisco. “This misogynistic behavior violates the office code of conduct and the individual has been fired.”
Now, Thomas is suing Jenkins’ office for wrongful termination. In the action, obtained for the first time by Court News ServiceThomas’ lawyers argue that when he was fired the same day the email was sent, he was fired rather than fired for cause.
According to the lawsuit, Thomas was informed that “there would be no disciplinary action associated with Plaintiff’s termination and that Plaintiff would have the right to reapply to work for Defendants CCSF (City and County of San Francisco) and SFDA.” .
Although the message was text, the lawsuit claims he accidentally wrote it in the form of an email to District Attorney Jenkins and again accidentally clicked “reply all.”
Thomas was also previously sued by one of the victims he defended while working at Bayview Victims Services, the San Francisco Standard reported after his dismissal. Thomas’ case was dismissed in December 2021.
In the new lawsuit filed Friday, Thomas’ attorneys call the case first brought against the former victim advocate “meritless” and that there was “no evidence that the plaintiff engaged in sexual harassment at the location of work or elsewhere related” to the victim.
The lawsuit also accuses the office of leaking the contents of the original email to the press and later pointing out the cold sexual harassment case to reporters.
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