Report: Attorney Accuses Fresno Defense Firm of Sexual Harassment

Tuesday, July 19, 2022 | 3

The Fresno Bee reports that a workers’ compensation defense attorney filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former employer, saying a senior partner took her and other workers to a strip club and engaged in behavior that made her feel humiliated.

Michelle Ritchie alleges that Joseph Yrulegui, a partner and shareholder at work comp defense firm Yrulegui & Roberts, provided co-workers with dollar bills to tip dancers at City Lights Night Club. The lawsuit additionally claims Yrulegui paid for lap dances for employees and made gestures mimicking oral sex to strippers working in the club, according to the report.

“Plaintiff believed as an employee, she should remain with the group until attorney Joseph Yrulegui left and the work event had concluded,” the lawsuit reportedly states. “While at the strip club, plaintiff, the other female employees and a male clerk employee discussed that they were uncomfortable and embarrassed by attorney Joseph Yrulegui’s interactions with the strippers.”

Yrulegui’s lawyer, Howard Sagaser, told the Fresno Bee that the night at the strip club was a voluntary social outing and not a work-sanctioned event.

Sagaser denied allegations that Yrulegui & Roberts tried to sabotage Ritchie’s search for another job.