In a complaint filed February 20 in San Francisco Superior Court, a security guard at the De Young Museum in San Francisco alleges sexual harassment and retaliation.
The complaint names the city and county of San Francisco, the Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums (which operates the De Young and the Legion of Honor), and Patrick Smithwick, who supervises the plaintiff and other guards. It alleges gender-based harassment, sexual harassment, failure to prevent harassment, and retaliation for opposing discrimination and harassment, and asks for punitive and exemplary damages along with attorneys’ fees and costs.
The suit comes not six months after reports of guards accusing the museum and union leadership of a toxic workplace lasting over decades, including wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, and verbal threats. The city had reportedly shelled out over $1 million to settle seven lawsuits from current and former guards.
The plaintiff in the new complaint, Ezra Iturribarria, was hired in 2007 as a part-time guard and promoted to full-time in 2013. Smithwick was Iturribarria’s supervisor and allegedly engaged in “visual, verbal, [and] physical” harassment, including sexual advances. The conduct was “severe and pervasive,” says the complaint.
The suit offers several examples of harassing behavior. It alleges that Smithwick stared at Iturribarria and made crass comments about the shape of her body, proposing how he would deal with parts of her anatomy if they had sex. Smithwick, while seated, allegedly told a standing Iturribarria, “Oh baby! You could sit in my chair anytime!” Smithwick once allegedly invited Iturribarria to engage in group sex with him and his wife and once showed her a video of a beaver gnawing wood and “creepily stared” at her and said “beaver likes wood,” in an obvious sexual double entendre. He allegedly once told Iturribarria, “You are really whoring it up today,” and mimed grabbing her breasts, saying, “That’s why you look like a prostitute.”
Iturribarria says she repeatedly told Smithwick to stop his behavior, and that in retaliation, he declined her requests for overtime, instead scheduling less-senior employees for those shifts. The complaint further alleges that Iturribarria complained to management in October 2025 but that the museum failed to properly investigate her claim and allowed Smithwick to continue interacting with her. During what it calls a sham investigation, Smithwick, though assigned to a different museum, continued to contact Smithwick by phone. Then, in December, Smithwick returned to the De Young Museum.
Iturribarria then took a leave of absence as a result of Smithwick’s behavior, and remains on leave.
The suit was reported earlier by the San Francisco Standard. The museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told the Standard that it declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation and the “safety and privacy of our employees.”
