Black former San Francisco DA employee testifies about racial slur and alleged HR retaliation
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Twanda Bailey described a 2015 incident and the HR response in a lawsuit revived by the California Supreme Court in 2024.
Former San Francisco District Attorney’s Office employee Twanda Bailey told jurors Wednesday that a co-worker called her the N-word and the office’s HR manager later harassed her after she complained.
Bailey said Saras Larkin, a colleague who had previously supervised her, used the slur on Jan. 22, 2015. According to Bailey, when Larkin pointed out a mouse had run by her desk, she jumped up out of her chair.
Bailey testified that Larkin then said, “You [N-words] is so scary.”
Bailey said she told co-workers about the incident but initially avoided reporting it to HR because she feared retaliation, as Larkin was close friends with personnel director Evette Taylor-Monachino. Bailey testified that her fears were heightened by what she described as the previous harassment or removal of two other Black women from the office.
“I was scared,” Bailey said. “I didn’t want to get harassed.”
A supervisor later overheard Bailey discussing the incident at a holiday party and said they would report it; however, when Bailey asked for a copy that March, Taylor-Monachino told her no report or formal complaint existed.
Managers interviewed both women and prepared a written summary, according to the California Supreme Court’s 2024 opinion. Taylor-Monachino never submitted the formal harassment complaint required by city policy.
Bailey testified that Taylor-Monachino later laughed at her, gave her hostile looks, and made her afraid to walk past the HR office. “I felt like I was working in a war zone,” she told jurors. She also disputed criticism in her performance review and described a parking-lot encounter she considered threatening. After working for the district attorney’s office for 14 years, Bailey left the job in late 2015.
Deputy City Attorney Matthew Yan questioned whether Bailey misheard Larkin and asked why she had not confronted her. “I heard her correctly,” Bailey replied, KQED reported. Larkin did not admit making the remark when managers interviewed her in 2015, the court opinion says.
Bailey sued the city in December 2015. A trial judge granted summary judgment for the city, a ruling later affirmed on appeal. The California Supreme Court reversed in July 2024, saying even a single severe racial slur can support a workplace harassment claim, and that efforts to obstruct reporting could amount to retaliation. The justices did not decide whether Bailey’s account was true.
Alameda County Judge Rebekah Evenson is overseeing the trial in San Francisco after the city’s judges recused themselves. Each side has been allotted 30 hours for the trial, which is expected to conclude in less than two weeks. Jurors in the trial must decide whether the city is liable for the alleged harassment and retaliation.