In 2000, plaintiff Sara Alfaro, previously a seasonal firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), began working as an emergency medical technician for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. After completing training in 2001, she became a firefighter for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. She was eventually promoted to a fire captain in September 2015. At the time, Alfaro was only one out of five captains in the department. However, Alfaro claimed that throughout her years with the department, she was subjected sexual harassment from her male peers. In February 2017, Alfaro reported the harassment to a fire chief, who filed a complaint with the city of San Diego’s equal employment opportunity office. The complaint started two workplace investigations. Alfaro claimed that the department and the city’s human resources department then told others in her department, who were all male, about her complaints, despite her assertion that she would be subjected to retaliation if they did so. She claimed that as a result, the sexual harassment intensified, and she was denied promotions and assignments without explanation. Alfaro sued the city of San Diego, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Fire Captain Jamie Nichols, and Deputy Chiefs Kelley Zombro and Gina La Mantia. Alfaro alleged that the defendants failed to prevent sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Alfaro claimed that she was subjected to years of sexual harassment, which included male San Diego Fire Department employees groping her, unzipping her shirt, placing their exposed genitalia on her possessions, sending her multiple sexually suggestive text messages, and having a photoshopped image of her degraded with a penis passed around the department. She also claimed that the sexually hostile behavior intensified after male employees in the department learned of her sexual harassment complaint and that she began to be denied promotions and assignments without explanation. Alfaro’s counsel asserted that the San Diego Fire Department was the epitome of an “old boys’ club” and that the defendants either knew of or were witness to much of the harassment that Alfaro regularly encountered. Counsel contended that instead of attempting to remedy to situation, the defendants turned a blind eye to it and that when Alfaro complained about the hostile work environment, the defendants formally carried out the resulting investigations in a public manner with no regard for Alfaro’s privacy. Counsel asserted that as a result, the harassment was exacerbated, which the defendants knew or should have known it would., Alfaro claimed that she suffers from emotional distress as a result of the events. She alleged that as a result, she had to give up responsibilities that she previously enjoyed, such as teaching continued education and paramedic classes, because the men in the department did not respect her. Alfaro sought recovery of damages for her emotional pain and suffering.