Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Shirley Yamaguchi can sue the Air Force for failing to take adequate disciplinary action against a uniformed service member who sexually harassed a civilian co-worker.

"It's wonderful news," said attorney Elizabeth Jubin Fujiwara, a co-counsel in the case. "It shows that the military here has to be responsive to civilian employees."

Fujiwara said Yamaguchi is still "disabled" from her problems with the Air Force and hasn't been able to work since her 1993 termination. She sued the Air Force for job discrimination, seeking compensatory damages, but the case has not been brought to trial because of various motions.

Fujiwara said she hopes to be back in federal court by next spring.

In its ruling, the federal appeals court said while judges should be reluctant to interfere with military decisions in areas such as discipline, the military is not immune from sexual harassment lawsuits by civilian employees. Uniformed service members, however, cannot sue the government under federal civil rights laws.

"In order to adjudicate properly the adequacy of a military employer's response to sexual harassment of a civilian employee by a uniformed co-worker, a court must determine whether the military employer adequately disciplined the offending employee," said Judge Betty Fletcher in the 3-0 ruling.

She said it would undermine civil rights laws to let a military employer avoid legal responsibility "by simply invoking its right to unlimited discretion as to whether or not to discipline its soldiers."

William Tagupa, Yamaguchi's other attorney, said the significance of this case is that it involved both senior noncommissioned officers and high-ranking field grade officers at Hickam.

"The military was a little lax in letting things happen," Tagupa said. "Basically, things got out of control."

Tagupa said that while Yamaguchi, 35, "in essence lost a career," co-worker Senior Master Sgt. Lyle Irwin Clark continued to get promoted by the Air Force. Clark was transferred to the mainland and unavailable for comment.

The court said it was undisputed that Yamaguchi, a chief in the Management Analysis and Support Division at Hickam, was sexually harassed by Clark.

Yamaguchi said a series of incidents culminated in November 1991 when Clark came to her apartment on a pretext, tied and raped her, and warned her not to tell anyone. Over the previous 11 months, Clark had made sexual comments to her at work, sent her unwanted notes and gifts, once tried to kiss her and monopolized her time.

She reported Clark's conduct, except for the rape, to a supervisor in December 1991.

A superior officer ordered Clark not to have any contact with Yamaguchi except on official business. He was transferred to another building and, several months later, reassigned to Las Vegas in 1992. However, he was never reprimanded, reduced in rank or officially penalized, the court said.

Yamaguchi went on leave for mental problems in early 1992 and was given a lower-grade job, though with the same pay, when she returned to work in September 1992, the court said.

She stopped showing up for work the next spring and submitted a psychologist's letter saying she could no longer work under the commanding officer, Lt. Col. Charles Elliot. She said Elliot had blamed her for the harassment allegations, brushed off her complaints and criticized her work. She was terminated in September 1993.