Union leader denies sexual harassment charges

In a suit filed last Monday (December 19), Mickey Kasparian, president of the United Food & Commercial Union Local 135, is charged with sexual harassment by a former employee who worked for him. Isabel Vasquez also named the union in the suit filed in San Diego Superior Court.

Kasparian made "occasional demands for oral sex in his office, sexual intercourse in hotels paid for by Local 135, and similar sex acts," according to the suit. Vasquez claims she was "filled with constant fear and anxiety that today would be the day she would be called into his office for oral sex."

Vasquez states in the complaint, "One time, a co-worker walked into Kasparian's office and saw him quickly run into an adjacent space, leaving Vasquez on her knees to face the co-worker in humiliation."

Kasparian says the charges are untrue.