An SF District Attorney’s Office employee who was fired for a reply-all email to his colleagues saying “what color panties you have on” is now suing, claiming the city and the DA’s office defamed him.
It takes a fair amount of nerve to send a reply-all workplace email to all of your colleagues saying “what color panties you have on,” particularly when your boss is a woman. But it takes even more nerve to sue your workplace for firing you after you sent that email.
Yet that’s where things stand with former San Francisco District Attorney’s Office victim advocate Jovan Thomas, who was relieved of his duties after sending his co-workers that reply-all “what color panties you have on” email on January 26 of this year. Now the Bay Area News Group reports that Thomas is suing the city and the DA’s office over his termination, in a lawsuit filed Friday.
There are still screenshots of that colorful email posted to social media. The original email was entitled “Event commemorating Matthew Shepard,” a reference to the gay Wyoming college student who was beaten and tortured to death in 1998. As noted, Thomas responded “what color panties you have on” and hit send on a reply-all interoffice email.
The 56-year-old Thomas’s excuse was that he was texting an old college friend whose father had recently passed away, and was making a “goofy, playful” remark to cheer up his friend. But per his description, he accidentally responded in the email from DA Jenkins instead of the text thread. However plausible that may or may not seem, Thomas was informed by day’s end that he would no longer be employed by the SF DA’s office.
According to the Bay Area News Group, Thomas “said the action was characterized as a layoff rather than termination for cause.” Whereas at the time, DA Office spokesperson Randy Quezada put out an official statement saying, “To be clear, there is no relationship between the District Attorney and the individual who sent this email,” and, “This misogynistic behavior violates the office’s code of conduct and this individual has been terminated."
And apparently, it’s the “misogynistic behavior” language that Thomas is suing over. Per the News Group, Thomas claims the office made “false, fraudulent, malicious and humiliating statements” about him in the press, and the lawsuit alleges defamation, invasion of privacy, and the infliction of severe emotional distress
As an aside, the SF Standard reported when the original email scandal broke that Thomas had a previous sexual assault allegation from a 2018 lawsuit. A woman identified as Jane Doe sued the city, alleging that Thomas made romantic advances toward her while she was a victim services client, and she alleged that Thomas repeatedly pressured her via phone calls and texts. That case ended in 2021 with the city being found not liable for Thomas’s behavior.
This time around, Thomas is the one seeking a jury trial, and hoping for compensatory and punitive damages.
Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 31: San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks during a news conference on October 31, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Jenkins announced state level charges against David Wayne DePape who attacked Paul Pelosi, husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, after breaking into their home. DePape is being charged with attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder and threats to a public official and their family. The U.S. attorney has also filed federal charges against DePape. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
