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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05211996 - C10 . i CLAIM BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA May 2f, 1996 Claim Against the County, or District governed by) BOARD ACTION the Board of Supervisors, Routing Endorsements, ) NOTICE TO CLAIMANT and Board Action. All Section references are to ) The copy of this document mailed to you is your notice of California Government Codes. ) the action taken on your claim by the Board of Supervisors (Paragraph IV below), given pursuant to Government Code Amount: Unknown Section 913 and 915.4. Please note �a �,�� CLAIMANT: Sandra Fredrickson J.�► APR 2 k 1996 ATTORNEY: Elladene Lee Katz, Esq. COUNTY COUNSEL 323 North San Mateo Drive Date received MJTINEZCALIF. ADDRESS: San Mateo, CA 94401, BY DELIVERY TO CLERK ON April 24, 11996 BY MAIL POSTMARKED: April 21, 1996 I. FROM: Clerk of the Board of Supervisors TO: County Counsel Attached is a copy of the above-noted claim. ppH gg DATED: April 24, 1996 B IL DeputyLOR, Clerk II. FROM: County Counsel TO: Clerk of the Board of Supervisors (`I/) This claim complies substantially with Sections 910 and 910.2. ( ) This claim FAILS to comply substantially with Sections 910 and 910.2, and we are so notifying claimant. The Board cannot act for 15 days (Section 910.8). ( ) Claim is not timely filed. The Clerk should return claim on ground that it was filed late and send warning of claimant's right to apply for leave to present a late claim (Section 911.3). (✓) Other:— 1 111,E (1kal vv,'1:1 U.P-\i wxelA G43 IT. OA: 2,Y-9 3 C && eAQl vi t X10V- G-, Odl-b Fac e- .Z-4 19 9 C 1�-�., lti � �l� Lea-ye- _V0 a- e _Vo s est 0. L `-i ( o_t(E)vc.. Dated: (o Q 1 G BY:— A 6, y - Deputy County Counsel --7— ao J_ III. FROM: Clerk of the Board TO: County Counsel (1) County Admin'strator (2) ( ) Claim was returned as untimely with notice to claimant (Section 911.3). IV. BOARD ORDER: By unanimous vote of the Supervisors present ( f) This Claim is rejected in full. ( ) Other: I certify that this is a true and correct copy of the Board's Order entered in its minutes for this date. Dated: a. PHIL BATCHELOR, Clerk, By d , Deputy Clerk WARNING (Gov. code section 913) Subject to certain exceptions, you have only six• (6) months from the date this notice was personally served or deposited in the mail to file a court action on this claim. See Government Code Section 945.6. You may seek the advice of an attorney of your choice in connection with this matter. If you want to consult an attorney, you should do so immediately. *For additional warning See reverse side of this notice. .AFFIDAVIT OF MAILING I declare under penalty of perjury that I am now, and at all times herein mentioned, have been a citizen of the United States, over age 18; and that today I deposited in the United States Postal Service in Martinez, California, postage fully prepaid a certified copy of this Board Order and Notice to Claimant, addressed to the claimant as shown above. Dated: 19 BY: PHIL BATCHELOR beputy Clerk CC: County Counsel County Administrator RECEIVED APR 2 4 1996 1 ELLADENE LEE KATZ,ESQ. 323 North San Mateo Drive CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 2 San Mateo, California 94401 CONTRA COSTA CO. 3 Telephone: (415) 348-8078 State Bar#: 81021 4 Attorney for Plaintiff 5 SANDRA FREDRICKSON 6 7 8 9 NOTICE OF CLAIM AGAINST PUBLIC ENTITY 10 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY 11 (GOVERNMENT CODE SECTIONS 905, 905.2, 910, 910.2) 12 13 14 TO: CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: ` 15 16 SANDRA FREDRICKSON hereby makes claim against CONTRA COSTA 17 18 COUNTY and makes the following statements in support of the claim: 19 O Claimant's post office address is: 20 2395 Belladonna Street Redding, California 96002 21 22 0 Notices concerning the claim should be sent to: 23 Law Office of 24 Elladene Lee Katz 25 P. 0. Box 517 San Mateo, California 94401 26 27 0 The dates and place of the occurrences giving rise to this claim are: On or 28 about March 23, 1995;March 27, 1995;April 3, 1995;April 10, 1995;May 1, 1995;May 1 ® The dates and place of the occurrences giving rise to this claim are: On or 2 about March 23, 1995;March 27, 1995;April 3, 1995;April 10, 1995;May 1, 1995;May 3 15, 1995; June 1, 1995; June 15, 1995;July 1, 1995;August 1, 1995; October 1, 1995; 4 November 16, 1995;November 17, 1995;December 1, 1995;January 1, 1996;January 10, 5 6 1996;February 25, 1996; and plaintiff has been continually harassed, discriminated against, 7 and retaliated against on an ongoing basis. The place of these occurrences is the County 8 Public Health Building located at 111 Ward Street, Martinez, California 94553. 9 O The circumstances giving rise to this claim are as follows: 10 A. Ms. Fredrickson has been a Public Health Microbiologist since 11 12 February 1, 1980 for Contra Costa County. Despite Ms. Fredrickson's satisfactory work 13 performance, Ms. Fredrickson has been discriminated against by Contra Costa County, 14 Adana Henry, the Affirmative Action Officer;Lois Ellison, Personnel Department 15 Representative; Sandra Venerable, the Supervisor, Sylvia Keeling, a subordinate to plaintiff, 16 Rodney Smith, Laboratory Director; and other members of management on the above 17 18 mentioned dates and Ms. Fredrickson has been denied the right to participate and compete 19 and continue in her position as Senior Public Health Microbiologist because of the hostile 20 work environment which forced her to an involuntary resignation on February 25, 1996. 21 Despite Ms. Fredrickson's numerous complaints about the threatening, intimidating, 22 belligerent, and malicious behavior of Ms. Keeling,the county Personnel Department and 23 management personnel failed to adequately, immediately, and effectively investigate and 24 25 eliminate said hostility from the work environment 26 B. Ms. Fredrickson has filed complaints and memos were sent by Ms. 27 Venerable and other members of management directing that there would be meetings to 28 Notdaim2 2. 1 by being transferred to the Parasitology Department, which is known to be a department that 2 problem employees are transferred to. 3 C. After the assaultive behavior exhibited by Ms. Keeling on March 23, 4 1995, Ms. Fredrickson was in such a state of shock and significant distress that she was 5 6 forced to seek psychotherapy. Despite her complaints to the Personnel Department and other 7 members of management, Ms. Keeling was not reassigned, rather, Ms. Fredrickson was 8 transferred to the Parasitology Department. The harassment and discrimination did not stop, 9 Ms. Keeling followed Ms. Fredrickson throughout the various assignments, from 10 Parasitology and into the Virus Serology Department. Ms. Keeling continued to exhibit 11 12 hostile and intimidating behavior. 13 D. Ms. Fredrickson made numerous complaints to Sandra Venerable,her 14 Supervisor, that Ms. Keeling was singling Ms. Fredrickson out for unfair and unequal 15 treatment. Ms. Fredrickson is a 48-year old white female. Ms. Venerable is an Afro- 16 American female, and her comments to Ms. Fredrickson were that Ms. Keeling accused the 17 18 plaintiff of acting in a "racist manner". Ms. Fredrickson was appalled that there were no 19 efforts made to adequately and effectively investigate and eliminate the hostility exhibited by 20 Ms. Keeling against the plaintiff. Ms. Fredrickson has worked for Contra Costa County for 21 over 16 years and never has been accused of acting in a discriminatory manner. Further, Ms. 22 Fredrickson has grandchildren of mixed races and has always been able to work with people 23 of multi-cultural and racial backgrounds. 24 25 E. Sylvia Keeling is a minority female and Ms. Venerable and other 26 members of management made it very clear that because of her minority status there would 27 be no action taken against her. Rather, Ms. Fredrickson was transferred and moved to the 28 Notclaim2 3. 1 Parasitology Department which other employees have known is a department for problem 2 employees. 3 4 Because there was no apparent action taken against Ms. Keeling,the hostility, 5 6 intimidation, assaultive behavior,harassment, retaliation, and discriminatory actions 7 committed by Ms. Keeling against the plaintiff continued to such an extent that on or about 8 November 16, 1995, Ms. Fredrickson was so distressed and depressed over said behavior she 9 attempted to commit suicide. Ms. Fredrickson communicated this action to Ms. Venerable, 10 and attempted to take a disability leave. She was advised by the County that she would not 11 12 qualify for disability,but rather,this should have been filed as a workers compensation claim. 13 While being treated by medical doctors, Ms. Fredrickson was advised that she could not 14 work in close proximity with Sylvia Keeling. No action was taken against Ms. Keeling, and 15 Lois Ellison, at the Personnel Department advised Ms. Fredrickson that there would be no 16 place to return the plaintiff that would be separate from Ms. Keeling. 17 Ms. Fredrickson has been diagnosed as having post traumatic stress syndrome and her 18 19 doctor directed that if she was to be returned to work she must be placed in an environment 20 separate from Ms. Keeling. The accommodations requested were reasonable and the County 21 denied them, 22 Ms. Fredrickson's doctors approved her for disability,however, the County denied 23 her disability and directed that her sick leave be filed as a workers compensation claim. 24 25 The County failed to protect Ms. Fredrickson from an assaultive, intimidating, and 26 harassing employee, despite Ms. Fredrickson's complaints. The County failed to immediately 27 and adequately investigate and remove the hostility from the work environment. Further, the 28 Notclaim2 4. 1 County failed to make reasonable accommodations for Ms. Fredrickson. Ms. Keeling was 2 not reprimanded and no disciplinary action was taken against her. Ms. Keeling continues to 3 harass other employees, including an employee who is medically disabled. 4 5 Ms. Keeling has also verbally abused and physically intimidated Ms. Fredrickson 6 because Ms. Fredrickson is not a Mormon. Ms. Keeling has stated that she has support from 7 other executive officers working for the County who are Mormon and has made accusations 8 that Ms. Fredrickson is not only a racist,but not a Christian. 9 Ms. Fredrickson's due process rights and constitutional rights to be free of 10 employment discrimination have been violated by Contra Costa County because their failure 11 12 to act and their failure to eliminate such hostility in the work environment violates both state 13 and federal laws. Clearly, Contra Costa County had a duty to prohibit race or age 14 discrimination, or religious discrimination of any kind and allow Ms. Fredrickson to continue 15 working in her position equally with her peers and to be free from said discrimination. Ms. 16 Fredrickson was singled out and treated unfairly because of her race, age and medical 17 18 disability. 19 ® Claimant's injuries are both physical and mental and medical damages are 20 substantial. 21 ® The names of the public employees causing the claimant's injuries are: 22 (1) Sylvia Keeling 23 Microbiologist 24 25 26 27 28 Notdaim2 5. I O Sandra Venerable 2 Supervisor 3 ® Rodney Smith Laboratory Director 4 ® Adana Henry 5 Affirmative Action Officer 6 © Lois Ellison 7 Personnel Department Representative 8 9 O Ms. Fredrickson's claim as of the date of this claim is in an amount that 10 would place it within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court. The claim is based upon race 11 discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, medical disability discrimination, 12 breach of contract,negligent supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress in an 13 amount to be proved later at time of trial. 14 16 Dated: - 17 18 Elladene Lee Katz 19 Attorney for Plaintiff SANDRA FREDRICKSON 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Notclaim2 6. 1 2 3 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 5 6 I hereby certify that the Notice of Claim Against Public Entity Contra Costa 7 County (Government Code Sections 905, 905.2, 910, and 910.2) was mailed regular mail,unless otherwise indicated below, this day to each of the following: 8 9 Phil Batchelor 10 County Administrator 651 Pine Street 11 11th Floor Martinez, CA 94553 12 13 Clerk of the Board of Supervisors 651 Pine Street 14 Room 106 Martinez, Ca 94553 15 16 17 Dated: April 20, 1996 Joanie Saxton 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 = s2 _ xx O �,P 94/ . t ` to "... i. - s t { rA in ON �v N C. ID I ANDREA W. CASSIDY, State Bar#114694 Deputy County Counsel 2 VICTOR J. WESTMAN, State Bar#34044 County Counsel 3 651 Pine Street, 9th Floor Martinez, CA 94553 4 Phone: (510) 335-1800 5 Attorneys for Defendants COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, 6 SYLVIA KEELING, RODNEY SMITH, SANDRA VENERABLE, 7 ADANNA HENRY, LOIS ELLSION, PAUL KUNKEL, RICHARD STICKNEY, 8 AND MONALISA GORMAN 9 10 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 11 COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA 12 13 SANDRA FREDRICKSON, No. C 96-05206 14 Plaintiff, DECLARATION OF SHIRLEY CASILLAS IN SUPPORT OF 15 vs. MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 16 COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, et al., 17 Defendant. Date: Time: 18 Dept.: 1 Judge: McGrath 19 Date Action Filed: November 21, 1996 Trial Date: 20 21 I, Shirley Casillas, do hereby declare: 22 1. I am over the age of 18 and a resident of the state of California. 23 2. I know of the matters set forth herein of my own personal knowledge and if 24 called as a witness could and would competently testify thereto. 25 3. I am employed as Deputy Clerk with the Clerk of the Board for the Contra Costa 26 County Board of Supervisors. I work at 651 Pine Street, Room 106, Martinez, California. 27 On May 22, 1996 I served a Notice to Claimant on Elladene Katz, Esquire attorney for 28 Sandra Fredrickson. A true and correct certified copy of the Notice and Claim which are in Declaration of Shirley Casillas in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment Case No. C 96-05206 1 I the official records of Contra Costa County is attached to this Declaration as Exhibit"A". 2 The notice indicated the Board's action on Ms. Fredrickson's claim delivered April 24, 3 1996 and informed the claimant that the claim is untimely as to all events and claims prior 4 to October 24, 1995, and that claimant may wish to file for leave to present a late claim as 5 to those allegations. 6 4. I regularly accept and process claims and requests for late claim filings on behalf 7 of Contra Costa County, in my capacity as deputy clerk in the offices of the Clerk of the 8 Board. In my regular course of business, all such documents presented for filing are listed 9 and indexed. I have reviewed my indexes and find no entry for any requests to file a late 10 claim on behalf of Sandra Fredrickson after the date of my mailing of the Notice to 11 Claimant on May 22, 1996.. Based upon the normal course of business and processing in 12 our office, I can conclude that we have not received a request for leave to present a late 13 claim on behalf of Sandra Fredrickson. 14 I declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct and that 15 this declaration was executed on October.-2L, 1997 at Martinez California. 16 17 Shirley C illas 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 AWC&w 28 Declaration of Shirley Casillas in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment Case No. C 96-05206 2 RECEIVED 1 ELLADENE LEE KATZ,ESQ. APR 2 4 LOA% 323 North San Mateo Drive CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 2 San Mateo, California 94401 CONTRA COSTA CO. 3 Telephone: (415)348-8078 State Bar#: 81021 4 Attorney for Plaintiff CERTMM COPY 5 SANDRA FREDRICKSON Ia"I�f�tnoIna rid ontrmdaw vWorfbr dmtm t"*hic, fv on il*In nn•of v ATrwr nm HATCH UMR Clerk of the hmut of 7 8 9 NOTICE OF CLAIM AGAINST PUBLIC ENTITY 10 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY 11 (GOVERNMENT CODE SECTIONS 905,905.20 9109 910.2) 12 13 14 TO: CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: 15 16 SANDRA FREDRICKSON hereby makes claim against CONTRA COSTA 17 18 COUNTY and makes the following statements in support of the claim: 19 O Claimant's post office address is: 20 2395 Belladonna Street Redding, California 96002 21 22 O Notices concerning the claim should be sent to: 23 Law Office of 24 Elladene Lee Katz 25 P. O. Box 517 San Mateo,California 94401 26 27 ® The dates and place of the occurrences giving rise to this claim are: On or 28 about March 23, 1995;March 27, 1995;April 3, 1995;April 10, 1995;May 1, 1995;May 1 ® The dates and place of the occurrences giving rise to this claim are: On or 2 about March 23, 1995;March 27, 1995;April 3, 1995;April 10, 1995;May 1, 1995;May 3 15, 1995;June 1, 1995;June 15, 1995;July 1, 1995;August 1, 1995;October 1, 1995; 4 b November 16, 1995;November 17, 1995;December 1, 1995;January 1, 1996;January 10, 6 1996;February 25, 1996;and plaintiff has been continually harassed, discriminated against, 7 and retaliated against on an ongoing basis. The place of these occurrences is the County 8 Public Health Building located at 111 Ward Street,Martinez, California 94553. 9 O The circumstances giving rise to this claim are as follows: 10 A Ms. Fredrickson has been a Public Health Microbiologist since 11 12 February 1, 1980 for Contra Costa County. Despite Ms. Fredrickson's satisfactory work 13 performance, Ms. Fredrickson has been discriminated against by Contra Costa County, 14 Adana Henry,the Affirmative Action Officer;Lois Ellison,Personnel Department 15 Representative; Sandra Venerable,the Supervisor, Sylvia Keeling, a subordinate to plaintiff, 16 Rodney Smith, Laboratory Director;and other members of management on the above 17 18 mentioned dates and Ms. Fredrickson has been denied the right to participate and compete 19 and continue in her position as Senior Public Health Microbiologist because of the hostile 20 work environment which forced her to an involuntary resignation on February 25, 1996. 21 Despite Ms. Fredrickson's numerous complaints about the threatening,intimidating, 22 belligerent, and malicious behavior of Ms. Keeling,the county Personnel Department and 23 management personnel failed to adequately,immediately, and effectively investigate and 24 25 eliminate said hostility from the work environment 26 B. Ms. Fredrickson has filed complaints and memos were sent by Ms. 27 Venerable and other members of management directing that there would be meetings to 28 Nctdsim2 2. 0,/a 1 by being transferred to the Parasitology Department,which is known to be a department that 2 problem employees are transferred to. 3 C. After the assaultive behavior exhibited by Ms. Keeling on March 23, 4 1995,Ms. Fredrickson was in such a state of shock and significant distress that she was 5 6 forced to seek psychotherapy. Despite her complaints to the Personnel Department and other 7 members of management,Ms. Keeling was not reassigned,rather,Ms. Fredrickson was 8 transferred to the Parasitology Department. The harassment and discrimination did not stop, 9 Ms. Keeling followed Ms. Fredrickson throughout the various assignments,from 10 Parasitology and into the Virus Serology Department. Ms. Keeling continued to exhibit 11 12 hostile and intimidating behavior. 13 D. Ms. Fredrickson made numerous complaints to Sandra Venerable,her 14 Supervisor,that Ms. Keeling was singling Ms. Fredrickson out for unfair and unequal 15 treatment. Ms. Fredrickson is a 48-year old white female. Ms. Venerable is an Afro- 16 American female, and her comments to Ms. Fredrickson were that Ms. Keeling accused the 17 plaintiff of acting in a "racist manner". Ms. Fredrickson was appalled that there were no 18 19 efforts made to adequately and effectively investigate and eliminate the hostility exhibited by 20 Ms. Keeling against the plaintiff Ms, Fredrickson has worked for Contra Costa County for 21 over 16 years and never has been accused of aging in a discriminatory manner. Further,Ms. 22 Fredrickson has grandchildren of mixed races and has always been able to work with people 23 of multi-cultural and racial backgrounds. 24 E. Sylvia Keeling is a minority female and Ms. Venerable and other 25 26 members of management made it very clear that because of her minority status there would 27 be no action taken against her. Rather,Ms. Fredrickson was transferred and moved to the 28 NOWISim2 3. 1 Parasitology Department which other employees have known is a department for problem 2 employees. 3 4 5 Because there was no apparent action taken against Ms. Keeling,the hostility, 6 intimidation, assaultive behavior,harassment,retaliation, and discriminatory actions 7 committed by Ms. Keeling against the plaintiff continued to such an extent that on or about 8 November 16, 1995,Ms. Fredrickson was so distressed and depressed over said behavior she 9 attempted to commit suicide. Ms. Fredrickson communicated this action to Ms. Venerable, 10 and attempted to take a disability leave. She was advised by the County that she would not 11 12 qualify for disability,but rather,this should have been filed as a workers compensation claim. 13 While being treated by medical doctors, Ms. Fredrickson was advised that she could not 14 work in close proximity with Sylvia Keeling. No action was taken against Ms. Keeling, and 15 Lois Ellison, at the Personnel Department advised Ms. Fredrickson that there would be no 16 place to return the plaintiff that would be separate from Ms. Keeling. 17 Ms. Fredrickson has been diagnosed as having post traumatic stress syndrome and her 18 19 doctor directed that if she was to be returned to work she must be placed in an environment 20 separate from Ms. Keeling. The accommodations requested were reasonable and the County 21 denied them 22 Ms. Fredrickson's doctors approved her for disability,however,the County denied 23 her disability and directed that her sick leave be filed as a workers compensation claim 24 25 The County failed to protect Ms. Fredrickson from an assaultive,intimidating, and 26 harassing employee, despite Ms. Fredrickson's complaints. The County failed to immediately 27 and adequately investigate and remove the hostility from the work environment. Further,the 28 Natdaon2 4. • C'.Ja 1 County failed to make reasonable accommodations for Ms. Fredrickson. Ms. Keeling was 2 not reprimanded and no disciplinary action was taken against her. Ms. Keeling continues to 3 harass other employees,including an employee who is medically disabled. 4 b Ms. Keeling has also verbally abused and physically intimidated Ms. Fredrickson 6 because Ms. Fredrickson is not s Mormon Ms. Keeling has stated that she has support from 7 other executive officers working for the County who are Mormon and has made accusations 8 that Ms. Fredrickson is not only a racist,but not a Christian. 9 Ms. Fredrickson's due process rights and constitutional rights to be free of 10 employment discrimination have been violated by Contra Costa County because their failure 11 12 to act and their failure to eliminate such hostility in the work environment violates both state 13 and federal laws. Clearly, Contra Costa County had a duty to prohibit race or age 14 discrimination, or religious discrimination of any kind and allow Ms. Fredrickson to continue 15 working in her position equally with her peers and to be free from said discrimination. Ms. 16 Fredrickson was singled out and treated unfairly because of her race, age and medical 17 18 disabdrty. 19 1 6 Claimant's injuries are both physical and mental and medical damages are 20 substantial 21 ® The names of the public employees causing the claimant's injuries are: 22 O Sylvia Keeling 23 Microbiologist 24 25 26 27 28 Nddaim2 5. 1 Q Sandra Venerable 2 Supervisor 3 ® Rodney Smith Laboratory Director 4 ® Adana.Henry 5 Affirmative Action Officer 6 O Lois Ellison 7 Personnel Department Representative 8 9 6 Ms. Fredrickson's claim as of the date of this claim is in an amount that 10 Would place it within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court. The claim is based upon race 11 discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination,medical disability discrimination, 12 breach of contract,negligent supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress in an 13 amount to be proved later at time of trial. 14 16 Dated: l 17 18 Elladene Lee Katz 19 Attorney for Plaintiff SANDRA FREDRICKSON 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Xctdaim2 6. f ti 1 2 3 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 5 6 I hereby certify that the Notice of Claim Against Public Entity Contra Costa 7 County(Government Code Sections 905,905.2, 910,and 910.2) was mailed regular mail,unless otherwise indicated below,this day to each of the following: 8 9 Phil Batchelor 10 County Administrator 651 Pine Street 11 11th Floor 12 Martinez, CA 94553 13 Clerk of the Board of Supervisors 651 Pine Street 14 Room 106 Martinez,Ca 94553 15 16 17 Dated: April 20, 1996 Joanie Saxton 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28