PALO ALTO (CALIFORNIA) JULY 26: An Indian programmer at Oracle has sued her Indian male supervisor and the world's number two software maker for sexual harassment, claiming the man forced her into sex by telling her she needed to "learn the art of pleasing the American manager."

In her complaint, the plaintiff, identified only as "Barbara Doe," accused her supervisor of exploiting their shared background as Indians to sexually harass, assault and exploit her. Both parties were born and educated in India.

"The facts do not support the allegations made in the case but it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," Oracle spokeswoman Jennifer Glass said in a statement on Friday.

In the lawsuit filed on July 18 in California's Alameda County Superior Court, the plaintiff charged that her supervisor, Mahesh Anand, forced her to perform oral sex in Oracle's San Mateo, California offices, in his car and at her home when her husband was away. Anand has since left the company.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff reported Anand to Oracle's human resources director and filed sexual assault reports with local police departments in Foster City and Redwood City.

The Foster City police department referred the case to the District Attorney's office in San Mateo County for prosecution, where it was rejected due to insufficient evidence. The prosecutor who rejected the case was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, spokesmen for each of the police departments said they could find no record of the reports referred to in the lawsuit. Detectives at each of the departments, whose names were supplied by the plaintiff, were out and did not immediately return calls.

Anand's attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

Among other things, the plaintiff said Anand told her that "she must learn the art of pleasing the American manager." She charged that Anand told her that if anyone found out about the alleged sexual activities, she and Anand would be fired.

The lawsuit said that Oracle knew or should have known of the different cultural and legal context in which Anand was used to working in India, where managers can often exert unfettered power over their female subordinates.

In the complaint, the plaintiff charged that Oracle was "deliberately oblivious to discriminatory attitudes and abusive behavior" of Anand.

The lawsuit said that Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle failed to take reasonable and necessary steps to prevent sexual harassment or harassment based on national or ethnic origins, or to punish individuals who display such behaviors.

"Oracle takes any allegation of employee misconduct very seriously, and Oracle believes it has acted appropriately in this matter," Oracle spokeswoman Glass said.

In March, just weeks after the incidents in the suit were said to have happened, Anand sent out an e-mail informing his colleagues that he was leaving Oracle for "better opportunities," the lawsuit said. Oracle wouldn't comment on his departure.

Plaintiff's attorney John Winer said his client passed a lie detector test and that the results indicated that the relationship was not consensual.

Winer said Anand has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.

(Source : Hindustantimes )