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August 3, 2023
By Brian Hews
In May 2021, Los Cerritos Community News was the only media outlet to report that Brianna Gonzalez, an employee of Hawaiian Gardens, was suing the city, alleging the city did not do enough to protect her and other women from being sexually harassed by the former president of the workers’ union, Fred Licon.
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Gonzales sued for sexual harassment – quid pro quo, hostile work environment, and failure of the city to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent harassment.
Licon is the former AFSCME union president with a checkered past, found guilty of misusing union funds in 2020.
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Nine days ago, LCCN, speaking to sources close to Gonzalez, exclusively reported that Hawaiian Gardens had settled the lawsuit with Gonzalez.
Now LCCN, via a public records request, has obtained the Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims between the two parties, and it is not pretty.
Hawaiian Gardens residents, some of who had called for Licon to be fired after he was found misusing union funds and again after Gonzalez sued, are not going to be happy, with Licon adding yet another black mark on the city, his employment tenure and the local AFSCME Union, while costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The evidence presented by Gonzalez’ attorney must have been compelling, with the city settling for $325,000 plus unused sick and vacation pay owed to Gonzalez.
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In return, Gonzalez agreed to dismiss the lawsuit against the city and agreed to release any and all claims.
The parties signed the agreement on June 11, which stipulated that Gonzales had to resign once her lawyer received the check, payable within thirty days.
