Linda Williamson Case

Case Citation: Linda Williamson v. The City of Houston, 148 F. 3d 462 (5th Cir. 1998). Facts: Houston Police Officer Linda Williamson was working in the Organized Crime Squad and was sometimes assigned to partner with fellow Officer Doug McLeod. Williamson alleged that over an eighteen month period, McLeod harassed her every day creating a hostile work environment. More specifically, Williamson stated that McLeod conducted obvious and demeaning inspections of her appearance. He made comments to her on how her body looked in different clothes and remarked specifically on the appearance of her buttocks and the size of her breasts. Williamson related that McLeod became bolder and would wedge himself into a cubicle beside her where he could pull her hair, lean over her, breath heavily into her ear, bump, tap or slap her. McLeod allegedly whistled and

In spite of being reassigned, the harassment continued whenever Williamson and McLeod were in the same room. Two months later the supervisor reassigned Williams and McLeod to work together. Williamson objected to having to work with McLeod again and even requested to be transferred out of the Criminal Division because of the persistent problems with McLeod. It should be noted that Williamson never used the term sexual harassment to describe McLeod’s behavior during the complaint until after her reassignment with McLeod. The supervisor advised Williamson to write down her complaint and take it to the Internal Affairs Division which she did. Williamson was immediately transferred out of the Organized Crime Division after the complaint was given to IAD. Williamson filed a complaint against her supervisor alleging retaliation against her for filing the original complaint against McLeod. The HPD internal investigation found the allegations made by Williamson against both McLeod and the supervisor to be not