Harassment Suit Filed Against Sun, Former Exe

A Sun Microsystems employee has filed a sexual harassment claim against a former Sun vice president and the Santa Clara computer maker, alleging he repeatedly harassed her and withheld a raise because she wouldn't accept his romantic advances. Jan Simpson filed the lawsuit Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court against Sun and Rick Lytel, her former supervisor and a former chief technology officer in Sun's Life Sciences division. In April, Simpson filed a harassment complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

According to the suit, the 46-year-old Simpson worked in strategic sales development at Sun for 4 1/2 years. The suit says that Lytel, a vice president, was her supervisor until he left the company in September 2004.

The suit alleges that Lytel sexually harassed her in various locations and through e-mail. When Simpson resisted, she contends, Lytel retaliated against her by saying she was performing her work poorly and threatening her with termination. When she complained about the harassment to Sun's human resources department, the suit says, the company's staff failed to adequately investigate her claims and did little to help her.

Lytel could not be located for comment. In a statement, a Sun spokeswoman said that Sun does not tolerate sexual harassment and believes that it will be able to prove in court that it followed its policies. Jeff Ryan, attorney for the plaintiff, says the woman still works at Sun, reporting to Chief Technology Officer Greg Papadopoulos