from www.mercurynews.com – Julie LaBlanc was shocked when she found a hard-core pornographic magazine under her 9-year-old son’s pillow. But that wasn’t nearly as surprising as where he got it: the San Jose fire station where she worked as a firefighter.

That discovery eventually led to the city ferreting out dozens of sexually explicit magazines at firehouses across San Jose. It also led to a dispute with the firefighters union over how far the city could go in policing porn and other behavior in a fire department already grappling with sexual harassment complaints.

And now it’s led San Jose officials to offer LaBlanc $200,000 to settle her lawsuit alleging she was harassed on the job for complaining about pornography in Station No. 6.

“In order for the department to move forward, I think this is a good settlement,” said City Attorney Rick Doyle. “We want to make sure we have a safe work space for all our employees. In the case of Ms. LaBlanc, it took a lot of courage for her to come forward.”

LaBlanc filed suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court in April 2008 alleging her son had brought home a copy of a sexually explicit magazine he had taken from the men’s room at Station 6 while visiting her at work. According to her lawsuit, when she returned to work the next day she found more than 60 other hard-core pornographic magazines in the station and spoke to her captain about it. The captain alerted the city’s personnel department. An investigation failed to determine who was responsible for the magazines.

LaBlanc alleged that while the city was investigating the matter, she was shunned and taunted by her fellow firefighters, including one repeatedly refusing to give important work-related information to her. Seven months after her initial complaint, she said, a copy of “King,” which bills itself as “the illest men’s magazine ever,” was left in a common area of the station where she would see it. LaBlanc, a fire engineer, has since transferred to another station.

LaBlanc was not available Tuesday, and her lawyer, Joshua Boxer of the Angela Alioto law firm in San Francisco, would not comment on the pending settlement. Doyle said the proposed settlement was reached after mediation before a retired judge. The City Council is expected to vote on its approval Oct. 20.

The city, which has a policy against sexually explicit material in the workplace, will admit no liability under the terms of the settlement, which would be paid by Jan. 15.

But San Jose continues to battle with its firefighters union over efforts to crack down on sexual harassment in the department since LaBlanc’s complaint. After the city in July 2008 fired fire inspector Michael Baldwin for alleged sexual harassment of female co-workers that included unsolicited massages, kisses, birthday spankings and other inappropriate touching and banter, the union contested his dismissal through arbitration, arguing the “nuclear option” of termination was excessive and perhaps influenced by the LaBlanc case.

An arbitrator in April agreed and reversed Baldwin’s dismissal on grounds that the city had failed to administer “progressive discipline” because he was not formally reprimanded for harassment complaints in 1998 and 2002. The arbitrator said Baldwin should have been suspended 30 days without pay. The city is appealing that decision.

The firefighters union also filed a formal grievance over the city manager’s attempt to clarify San Jose’s sexual harassment policy. City officials wanted to make clear the ban on pornographic materials in the workplace applies to all city buildings, including fire stations that also serve as firefighters’ living quarters during their shifts. A firehouse sweep by department brass after LaBlanc’s complaint found pornographic materials in other stations as well.

“It wasn’t isolated to Station 6,” Doyle said.

Union officials said they had no quarrel with the merits of a sexual harassment policy and that the grievance was merely over the procedural concern that the city is obligated to negotiate any changes with them. The grievance has yet to be resolved, although Doyle said there has been no recent discussion about it.

LaBlanc’s is the second major sexual harassment settlement the city has paid in recent years. In November 2007, the city paid $98,600 to settle a lawsuit by former senior auditor Jennifer Callaway alleging her superiors, including former City Auditor Gerald Silva, fostered a sexually charged atmosphere at work. The City Council fired Silva earlier that year in response to complaints.

Doyle said in recommending the LaBlanc settlement to the council that the city faced substantial risks in taking the case to trial.

“There’s no admission of liability, but we have concerns,” Doyle said. “These are tough.”