OAKLAND — A Bay Area woman has sued her former boss, who has been charged with raping her by slipping her a sedative while a group of colleagues was out celebrating her promotion last year.
The woman’s identity is protected in court records but she agreed to an interview under the pseudonym “YG,” initials she used for purposes of the lawsuit as well. In June 2018, she went out for drinks to celebrate being promoted to a lead teller position at a Wells Fargo branch in San Francisco. Her boss, Antonio Perez, 28, was among those in the group.
YG said he offered her one last shot as the night was coming to a close. She has only two brief memories from the next several hours.
“I was able to say no and that I wanted to go home, and I just passed right back out again. I ended up waking up again,” she said, later adding, “I was literally awake for like a minute, when he was raping me.”
She woke up the next morning in Perez’s Pittsburg home. He gave her a ride home, she said.
YG went to the emergency room that day, and a toxicology test she had been slipped a narcotic that is known as a “date rape” drug, her attorney Gary Gwilliam said. Contra Costa County prosecutors charged Perez with a felony count of rape through the use of drugs last October. He has pleaded not guilty and his next court date is Nov. 20, according to public records.
“I remember I was perfectly fine and conscious before I took that last shot that had the drugs in it. I was fine,” YG said in an interview Thursday.
The civil complaint, filed Thursday, alleges that YG told a colleague what had happened to her, and the colleague said Perez was rumored to have done something similar to another employee. The complaint cites state law that says Wells Fargo has “strict liability” for “harassing conduct of supervisors.”
“I want justice,” YG said. “He’s a predator. I want that to be known, so this doesn’t happen to anyone else, if it hasn’t already.”
The company has tried to force YG into arbitration, Gwilliam said. That’s a legal process where complaints are resolved by meeting with an arbiter — as opposed to a judge or jury, in a public forum — who decides what damages, if any, should be given.
An attorney with the Los Angeles firm representing Wells Fargo did not immediately return requests for comment.
Arbitration is a controversial legal process, which critics say makes it too easy to sweep sexual harassment complaints under the rug. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 51, which prevents employers from forcing workers to sign arbitration agreements forfeiting their right to sue for harassment. The law is set to take effect in January, and it is not retroactive.
Gwilliam’s firm is attempting to put public pressure on the company to change its course.
“Wells Fargo started in San Francisco; they are a California bank,” said Jayme Walker, an attorney at Gwilliam’s firm. “California has determined that it’s wrong to force victims of sexual assault into arbitration. I think Wells Fargo should take responsibility and say, ‘We’re going to abide by that policy; we recognize this is not fair.’ “