LOS ANGELES — A longtime cardiologist at Kaiser in Riverside is suing her employer, alleging the health care system was slow in dealing with a supervisor who sexually harassed her despite having a history of the same behavior that caused him to be fired elsewhere.

The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe 200 in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit in which she alleges gender discrimination, harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment or retaliation and a violation of the state Labor Code.

Doe 200 seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit brought Nov. 26.

A Kaiser representative issued the following statement regarding the suit: “While we have not yet been served with this lawsuit, Kaiser Permanente is strongly committed to maintaining a safe, secure and respectful work environment for all our physicians and employees that is free of any hostile actions or behavior.”

The woman has worked as a cardiologist for Kaiser in Riverside since 2014. According to the suit, the supervisor began sexually harassing her in March 2023 with unwanted hugs, graphic text messages, frequent visits to her office and putting his arm around her waist while she was resuscitating patients.

In June 2023, the supervisor sent Doe 2000 a photo of himself via text message depicting him lying naked in bed while hugging his dog, the suit states.

“Plaintiff was shocked by the unwanted photo, but attempted to deescalate the situation as they still had to work together,” according to the complaint.

Two months later, weary of the supervisor’s conduct, Doe 200 told him in her office, “No, no more hugs. Stop touching me,” according to the suit.

When Doe 200 spoke with another female doctor about the supervisor’s alleged behavior, the other doctor replied, “I know. He’s always looking and staring at me. He also makes me uncomfortable,” according to the suit, which further states that Doe 200 found out from a nurse in March of this year that the supervisor was fired from a previous job for sexual harassment and that he had also been engaged in the same behavior with a Kaiser nurse.

The supervisor, after an internal investigation, was placed on a paid suspension in October, but the plaintiff has not been updated by human resources, which has contributed to her emotional distress, the suit states.

When asked by an investigator about his behavior, the supervisor said Doe 200 never said “no” to his hugs and also stated that he thought she liked dogs, the suit states.