A Google engineer says she was a frequent target of regular sexual harassment during her seven years at the company. In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Loretta Lee (no relation) accused the Mountain View company of having a "bro-culture" that was hostile to women—and of doing too little to address the problem.

The lawsuit is the latest headache from a company that has faced complaints from both sides of the culture war. Last year, Google fired engineer James Damore after he wrote a controversial memo arguing that the under-representation of women at the company might be due to women's lack of interest in computer programming. He responded by suing Google for allegedly discriminating against men.

But others have filed lawsuits making the opposite charge: that Google's culture is too hostile toward women—and to men who spoken out against that culture. Three women sued Google in September, charging that Google had systematically channeled female engineers into less lucrative career paths. A transgender man sued Google earlier this month, contending that his criticism of the Damore memo in internal company discussions had contributed to his dismissal.

Lee is another voice in this second camp. Her lawsuit paints a picture of a corporate culture where women routinely faced unwelcome sexual attention—and where management made little effort to change the company's sexist workplace culture.

"Google's bro-culture contributed to Plaintiff's suffering frequent sexual harassment and gender discrimination, for which Google failed to take corrective action," Lee's lawsuit charges.

In an email to Ars Technica, Google defended its policies without commenting on the specifics of Lee's case. "We have strong policies against harassment in the workplace and review every complaint we receive," a spokesman wrote. "We take action when we find violations—including termination of employment."

“His hand grazed her breasts”

"Male colleagues spiked her drinks with whiskey and laughed about it," Lee's lawsuit states. "Male engineers shot nerf balls and darts at her almost every day."

Lee says that "on occasion," male colleagues sent her "disturbing and bizarre messages." One asked if she'd like a "horizontal hug." Another colleague "showed up at her apartment with a bottle of liquor and offered to work with her to fix a problem she was having with one of her devices." Lee "asked him to leave, but he refused."

Lee alleges that she was slapped in the face by a drunk male co-worker "for no apparent reason. Men in the workplace ogled her constantly. Plaintiff worked at Google beginning when she was 26 years old, and this bro-culture was the only professional environment she knew."

Lee says the most egregious incident occurred in January 2016, when she returned from a break to find a male co-worker "on all fours, underneath her desk." He reportedly jumped up and said "you'll never know what I was doing." The next day, the same co-worker "grabbed the name badge that hung on a lanyard around her neck and asked 'What's your name?' As he grabbed the lanyard, his hand grazed her breasts."

According to Lee, the human resources department began scheduling weekly meetings to pressure Lee to file a formal report about the incident. She initially resisted doing so out of fear that she would face retaliation from her co-workers. She says she knew that "none of the actions Human Resources claimed they would take would change the sexually charged environment that she endured for years."

Finally, she agreed to file a formal complaint, and "over the next few months, Plaintiff’s fears were realized," the lawsuit states. "Though she diligently wrote code, no one in her group would approve it."

As a result, her progress slowed and she was labeled a "poor performer" and terminated on February 22.

We contacted Lee's attorneys to ask about the timeline here, because it was hard to see how a "few months" could have passed between the January incident and her February 22 termination. An attorney for Lee told us that this was a mistake. "The complaint should read 'few weeks,' not “few months,'" he wrote.

Lee also alleges that Google failed to accommodate her medical needs after a serious car accident—something that's required by California disability law. According to Lee, a senior engineering director told her that she couldn't go to therapy appointments during work hours and would "be better doing that on [her] own time." She says that Google's lack of scheduling flexibility worsened the back pain and sleep problems she suffered as a result of the accident.