Bay Area firm accused of sexual harassment by three executive assistants. Three executive assistants with San Francisco-based venture capital firm CMEA Capital have sued the firm and one of its former partners for sexual harassment, in a vivid complaint that also alleges racial harassment and retaliation. The three plaintiffs — Dawn-Shemain Weeks, Margaret Hines and Shannon Schlagenhauf — tell of a hostile work environment and detail 35 different alleged examples of inappropriate sexual comments and advances. Some of the examples are shockingly lurid, and far more explicit than what is normally found in a Silicon Valley harassment lawsuit. Most of the accusations center around John Haag, who served as CMEA’s chief operating partner between 2006 and 2012. The plaintiffs allege that CMEA management was aware of the ongoing situation, and that firm founder Tom Baruch had once warned one of them that Haag was a “predator.” But they formally presented their concerns to CMEA’s three managing partners on April 30, 2012. The firm hired an outside organization to conduct a review, which allegedly resulted in corroboration of their allegations. CMEA then chose to “buy-out” Haag’s interests in existing CMEA funds in coordination with him leaving the firm. According to his LinkedIn profile, Haag currently is running a consultancy called CourseChange. The plaintiffs further allege that, despite Haag’s departure, they were subsequently exposed to retaliation. For example: One of the three plaintiffs, Dawn-Shemain Weeks, gave notice back in January. The other two appear to remain employed by the firm, but say they do not believe “they will be allowed to remain employed at CMEA for any amount of time longer than CMEA believes it must retain them to avoid the appearance that they were terminated as a result of reporting the blatant misconduct of Defendant Haag.” Source: CNN; Fortune.