Former DA worker claims ‘panties email’ was sent by accident
A former San Francisco District Attorney’s Office employee claims in a lawsuit he suffered distress, damage to reputation and loss of income after he was fired for sending an email to DA Brooke Jenkins and the rest of the office that read “What color panties you have on.”
The DA’s office fired Jovan Thomas, then a victim advocate in the department’s critical incidents team, on Jan. 26 after he sent the email, which began circulating on social media. A spokesperson said at the time there was no relationship between Thomas and Jenkins and called the email “misogynistic.”
In a civil complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Friday, Thomas said the panties comment was sent to Jenkins and others in error and was intended for a fraternity brother. According to the lawsuit, Thomas was writing a text to his friend when he received an email calendar invite to a meeting that Jenkins had sent to the entire staff.
“Instead of texting his playful question to his friend, plaintiff accidentally emailed it … to defendant Jenkins. More unfortunate still, plaintiff pressed ‘reply all,’ so that plaintiff ’s Email was sent, not just to defendant Jenkins, but to the entire staff,” Thomas’ suit reads.
The complaint further explains that Thomas and his friend are straight and that the comment was intended to cheer his friend up during a difficult time.
“Plaintiff ’s text was not an actual inquiry about the color of his friend’s panties, as plaintiff was aware that his friend was a straight male who did not wear panties. It was a silly joke intended to cheer up his friend,” the suit reads.
“Absolutely no one who received plaintiff’s Email could reasonably have believed that plaintiff had actually inquired of his boss, the District Attorney of San Francisco, what color panties she was wearing, either seriously or as a joke, much less in an email sent to the
entire staff,” the complaint continues.
The DA’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The suit was first reported and posted Friday by Courthouse News Service.
The suit alleges 12 causes of action against the DA’s office, including invasion of privacy, defamation, violation of labor code, negligence, infliction
of emotional distress, fraud and conspiracy. It said Thomas filed a claim against defendants, which include the city, the DA’s office, Jenkins and several employees, “regarding the termination of plaintiff and the dissemination of false, malicious, humiliating and fraudulent statements about plaintiff to the press and others,” but that claim was denied in April.