A worker who was fired after “accidentally” sending a crude reply-all email to his boss is now suing his office for defamation.
A worker who was fired after “accidentally” sending a crude reply-all email to his boss is now suing his office for defamation.
A San Francisco city worker has been fired after he “accidentally” sent a highly inappropriate reply-all email to his boss that instead landed in the inboxes of the entire company.
Jovan Thomas, 56, was working for the office of the San Francisco District Attorney at the time he sent the email, which he claimed was intended for a friend in New Zealand.
In the email, Thomas, who is a trained victim advocate, appeared to ask the married 42-year-old District Attorney Brooke Jenkins “What colour panties you have on”.
The reply-all email was sent in response to an email from Jenkins herself who had sent a calendar invitation to the wider company for an anti-discrimination meeting.
Seconds after sending the email, Thomas followed up with a second email profusely apologising for the mistake.
“Good afternoon everyone while texting back and forth with my fraternity brother I sent a very inappropriate email. The email was meant as a joke ... and I sincerely apologise to everyone.
“Please know this is not who I am as a person as I carry myself with respect and dignity ... Please know I am sincerely sorry and would never do such a thing on purpose.”
Jovan Thomas accidentally sent this crude message to the entire office.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Ana Gonzalez issued the final reply to the unfolding disaster - instructing staffers to delete the initial email and refrain from spreading it further.
The District Attorney’s office issued a statement in the following days decrying Thomas’ “misogynistic behaviour”.
“This misogynistic behaviour violates the office’s code of conduct and this individual has been terminated,” the DA’s representative wrote.
“The District Attorney’s Office is committed to maintaining a professional office environment where all staff members are treated with dignity and respect and not subject to harassment or a hostile work environment.”
Thomas is now suing the the city for damages, saying he was wrongly terminated from his job and that people with the office contacted members of the media about the incident making “false, fraudulent, malicious and humiliating statements” about him, according to court documents.
Jovan Thomas followed up his initial email seconds later with an apology explaining how the error happened.
Part of his lawsuit is seeking damages for invasion of privacy, defamation and infliction of severe emotional distress.
In the Superior Court complaint, attorneys for Thomas wrote how he had been texting with a longtime friend whose father had just died, and intended to cheer him up with the message.
“On or about January 26, 2024, plaintiff, who is straight, was texting with a straight, male, long-time personal friend and fraternity brother who was in New Zealand to bury his father,” the court documents state.
“Hoping to cheer up his friend, who was distraught and grieving the death of his father, plaintiff intended to text his friend a jokey question of the sort that that plaintiff had sent his friend on occasion in the past in order to cheer him up – namely, ‘what colour are your panties?’
“Unfortunately, just as plaintiff was about to send his playful text to his friend, plaintiff received an email from defendant Jenkins.
“Plaintiff immediately told the staff at defendant SFDA and defendant Jenkins that had received plaintiff’s email that he had intended to text his lighthearted question to a grieving male friend.
“It was immediately obvious to defendant Jenkins and everyone else at defendant SFDA who had received plaintiff’s email that plaintiff had sent it inadvertently; that he had not intended to email his boss, the District Attorney, asking her what colour panties she was wearing.”
He is seeking a jury trial and compensatory and punitive damages as a result.
