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Hollywood Life Exposed in Lawsuit Against CBS

     LOS ANGELES (CN) - A woman agreed with a CBS set designer's offer of a $10,000 per month job if she'd have sex with him and give him her first month's paycheck - but then the man sexually harassed her, she claims in court.

Jaime S. sued CBS Studios and its employee Michael S., in Superior Court. (Last names have been redacted to protect the identities of the parties.)

She also sued 90210 Productions, EPSG Management Services, and Eye Productions.

Jaime says in her complaint that Michael started working for 90210 Productions as a leadman in June 2012.

A leadman operates under the set decorator, directing the prop crew and set dressers.

About a month after he went to work for CBS, Jaime says in her complaint, "[Michael] promised to employ [Jaime] as a set dresser at 90210 if she succumbed to his sexual advances and gave him all of the wages that she earned during the first month of her employment."

The complaint does not state directly whether she immediately "succumbed."

It continues: "Immediately after [Jaime] was hired, [Michael] reminded her of their quid pro quo arrangement, and threatened to fire her unless she paid him $10,000, which comprised her first month's wages at 90210.

"In order to preserve her employment status, [Jaime] wrote [Michael] two (2) checks in or around October 2012.

"Almost immediately after [Jaime] started working at 90210, [Michael] threatened to terminate her employment unless she agreed to be his girlfriend. [Jaime] initially resisted, but in response to [Michael's] constant threats, eventually obliged. Thus, the term of [Jaime's] employment was expressly or impliedly conditioned upon her acceptance of her supervisor's unwelcome sexual advances."

Jaime claims Michael "flaunted" their relationship by touching and kissing her in public. She says she told him to stop because it made her uncomfortable, but he ignored her.

In October 2012, she says in the complaint, Michael "invited her to participate in acts of payroll fraud and corporate theft by paying for her personal items using CBS Studios' funds." She says she refused this offer, which Michael repeated, and which she continued to refuse.

Also that month, Jaime claims, Michael repeatedly sent her "inappropriate text messages" demanding a sexual relationship with her, and threatened to fire her and to "drive to her house and 'bust down the door.'"

Jaime claims that Michael's supervisor and other employees at 90210 knew about his inappropriate behavior, but never took action to make him stop.

After enduring Michael's harassment for about six months, Jaime claims, Michael "began exhibiting a clear pattern of retaliation in response to (her) unequivocal expression of disinterest in pursuing a romantic relationship with him, coupled with his frustration over her unwillingness to engage in his various illegal schemes. He threatened to blackball her from ever working in California again, refused to tender her paycheck when it became due, and refused to allow her to leave work at the same time as the other employees. When [Jaime] asked [Michael] why she was the only employee that wasn't allowed to leave for the day, he told her that she was in the 'penalty box," the complaint states.

It continues: "In an act of further retaliation, [Jaime] defamed [Michael] by spreading a rumor amongst employees of 90210 that she gave him a sexually transmitted disease, which he knew to be false."

[Jaime] claims [Michael] sent her 23 text messages on New Year's Eve and New Years' Day, begging her to be in a relationship with him. When she "continued to spurn his romantic interests, he terminated her employment on January 1, 2013," according to the complaint.

Jaime says the sexual harassment made her suffer physical and mental distress, "including stress, tension, nausea, anxiety and humiliation [and] embarrassment."

She seeks exemplary damages for sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, wrongful termination and Labor Code violations.

She is represented by David G. Jones with Santiago and Jones of Woodland Hills.

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