In 2010, plaintiff Domaniqueca Dickson, a black, female certified masseuse at Burke Williams, a day spa chain throughout California, complained to her managers about two incidents of sexual harassment by male customers. However, she claimed the spa did not investigate her claims or follow through with her complaints at all. Dickson sued Burke Williams Inc. for sexual harassment, gender discrimination, racial harassment, retaliation and failure to prevent harassment. Dickson claimed she was subjected to comments in the workplace that she found offensive, including the terms “negro,” “colored” and “you people.” She also claimed she was forbidden to wear a shower cap that she used to protect her hair. Dickson contended that in October 2010, a male client groaned during a massage and made sexual movements on the massage table. She claimed that she complained about the incident to management, but the matter was not investigated. She also contended that in December 2010, a doctor receiving a massage exposed himself and grabbed her. Dickson claimed she also reported this incident to management, but that nothing was done. Plaintiff’s counsel contended the spa failed to have a written policy on how to handle harassment by clients. Counsel asserted that as a result, once a complaint was filed with a manager, it would be sent up to the company, but would not be investigated. Plaintiff’s counsel also contended that there were a number of previous complaints by massage therapists at the spa, but that there was no documentation of the previous complaints. Counsel asserted that massage therapists were told that if an incident occurs, they should report it to their managers, but there was no structural policy ladder for the managers to report the complaints. Plaintiff’s counsel further contended that there was no training provided to managers on how to handle the subject issues, there were no references to these types of incidents in manuals, and there were not even any incident report sheets for the massage therapists to use to file their complaints. Additionally, counsel contended that there were no instructions to the clients on proper boundaries during the treatments. However, plaintiff’s counsel contended that there were extensive written policies and procedures in place for client complaints about massage therapists at the spa. Burke Williams generally denied Dickson’s allegations. It claimed there was an informal process to deal with complaints at the spa, and it did not tolerate harassment of its employees or customers., Dickson worked for the spa since August 2009, but she took an 11-month medical leave of absence in 2010 due to alleged stress and back pain. She later resigned from the spa in February 2013. Dickson claimed that she was forced to quit because she could not tolerate the alleged hostile work environment at Burke Williams. Dickson ultimately received mental health counseling at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, and she sought recovery of damages for her emotional distress and lost income, as well as recovery of punitive damages.