A UC Irvine Medical Center employee filed a lawsuit Monday claiming she was not protected from a university volunteer who stalked and sexually harassed her for more than one year.
Carlin Motley detailed incidents of harassment allegedly by Ibrahim Eldumiati, who works as a fundraising volunteer for UC Irvine’s Medical School, at a news conference on Monday. She said the sexual harassment began in 2017 and included an incident at a campus event where Eldumiati allegedly walked up to her, began kissing her face and down her neck while she tried to get him off of her.
A complaint for damages was filed against the Regents of the University of California – which is UC Irvine’s governing body – and Eldumiati on Monday, according to John Winer, Motley’s attorney. Motley said she feared for her safety each time she rejected Eldumiati’s advances because nothing was ever done to ensure her safety.
“He throughout the morning began kind of stalking me, like an animal kind of circling. At one point he stopped and stared at me to intimidate me for a long time,” Motley, who works on UC Irvine Medical Center’s Anti-Cancer Challenge campaign, said tearfully at the news conference. “I notified one of my colleagues, who was a trusted colleague, that I was very worried and that I was very alone.”
Eldumiati was not an employee, but a “well-liked” volunteer who helped raise a large amount of donations, according to Motley.
She said she complained to her direct supervisors on multiple occasions and filed a formal complaint with the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Motley’s claims were investigated by the university, but she said they never led to appropriate action against Eldumiati and still does not feel safe at work.
“Carlin gave them every opportunity to take care of this problem, and instead of taking care of it they protected Abe and they protected themselves,” Winer said.
Motley claims she has since been ostracized at work because of her sexual harassment claims. She said she was also encouraged by a university investigator to let the case go and pretend as if it never happened.
“He said I should pretend as if the incident never happened and if I continued on it would only create more problems for me,” Motley said.
Motley is still employed at UC Irvine Medical Center, but Eldumiati’s current volunteer relationship with UC Irvine is unknown. In a written statement to KTLA, UC Irvine spokesman Tom Vasich responded to Motley’s claim stating, “We have learned of the potential lawsuit at today’s news conference. We will review legal documents once they are received and comment at the appropriate time.”
