Sandoval v. Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Social Services

• Decision Date: 19 December 2008
• Docket Number: No. B200213.,B200213.
• Citation: 169 Cal.App.4th 1167,87 Cal. Rptr. 3d 334
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: JOHN SANDOVAL, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES, Defendant and Respondent.

169 Cal.App.4th 1167

87 Cal. Rptr. 3d 334

JOHN SANDOVAL, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES, Defendant and Respondent.

No. B200213.

Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Four.

December 19, 2008.

Akudinobi & Ikonte, Emmanuel C. Akudinobi and Chijioke O. Ikonte for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Gutierrez, Preciado & House, Calvin House and Ann D. Wu for Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION

MANELLA, J.

In the underlying action, the trial court granted nonsuit on appellant John Sandoval's claim for violation of due process against respondent Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). Following a jury verdict in favor of DPSS on Sandoval's remaining claims against DPSS for civil rights violations and wrongful termination, the trial court entered judgment for DPSS and denied Sandoval's motion for a new trial. We affirm.

RELEVANT FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Complaint

Sandoval initiated the underlying action in January 2006. His complaint asserted claims against DPSS for retaliation (Gov. Code, § 12940, subd. (h); 42 U.S.C. § 1983), denial of due process (42 U.S.C. § 1983), disability discrimination (Gov. Code, § 12940, subd. (m)), wrongful termination in violation of public policy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.¹ The complaint alleged the following facts: DPSS hired Sandoval in 1991. After he complained in 1997 that a supervisor had sexually harassed a co-worker, he was subjected to retaliation in the form of poor performance evaluations, reassignments, and false accusations of misconduct. In February 2001, DPSS improperly sought to reassign him, and he took a medical absence. While Sandoval was absent from work, DPSS discharged him. In January 2003, the civil service commission ruled that Sandoval be restored to his position, provided that he was fit to return to work, and that he established that he had properly claimed workers' compensation benefits. When Sandoval reported for work in June 2004, DPSS declined to reinstate him.

DPSS sought summary judgment or adjudication on the complaint, contending, inter alia, that Sandoval's claims failed because he had "automatically resigned" in October 2003 by failing to respond to three notices DPSS sent him in 2003, requesting him to appear for work. DPSS pointed to section 5.12.020, subdivision A.1 of the Los Angeles County Code, which provides that a county employee who "fails to discharge [h]is regularly assigned duties" for specified periods is "deemed to have resigned . . . ." The trial court granted summary adjudication on Sandoval's claims for disability discrimination and infliction of emotional distress, and otherwise denied DPSS's motion.

B. Evidence at Trial

Trial by jury on Sandoval's remaining claims began on March 5, 2007.² Sandoval testified as follows: DPSS hired him in 1991 as an eligibility worker, charged with processing applications for welfare benefits. He worked hard, received commendations for his performance, and was eventually elected a union shop steward. In late 1997, he saw Roberto Del Valle, a supervisor, sexually harass a co-worker, and complained to the manager of the DPSS human resources department, who encouraged Sandoval "to change [his] testimony." Sandoval nonetheless pursued the complaint about Del Valle, who was ultimately discharged.

In 1998, Priscilla Stallworth became the deputy district director responsible for Sandoval's section. Vicky Short, Sandoval's immediate supervisor, reported directly to Stallworth. When Stallworth reassigned Sandoval to a position he regarded as a demotion, he filed a grievance, and was not reassigned. Short told him she had been advised not to pick Sandoval as her "lead worker," and he also received a low score of 70 on an examination that determined his prospects for promotion. He appealed the score, which was readjusted to a score of 100.

According to Sandoval, he had no disciplinary record prior to July 2000, when Stallworth improperly charged him with delay in the processing of a file. In early February 2001, she improperly charged him with an unauthorized absence from his desk. He filed grievances regarding these charges, and suffered no discipline. On February 22, 2001, Stallworth notified him that he had been reassigned to a new unit. Sandoval filed a grievance regarding the reassignment, went on leave, and sought workers' compensation benefits, citing work-related emotional distress and physical pain he had experienced for several months.

While Sandoval was on leave, a co-worker asked him to help her obtain an item of salary. When he met the coworker in the lobby of a DPSS building, he encountered Esther Martinez, a supervisor, who said he was not supposed to be there, and later falsely charged him with discourtesy. As a result, he received a seven-day suspension. In January 2002, DPSS discharged Sandoval on the ground that he had improperly asked a participant in a welfare benefits program to complete paperwork at a location outside DPSS offices. Sandoval appealed the discharge. In November 2002, a hearing officer of the civil service commission (Commission) filed a report recommending, inter alia, that Sandoval be accorded "conditional reinstatement . . . predicated upon [(1)] [his] prevailing in his Worker's Compensation appeals case, and [(2)] his being declared fit to return to work." On January 22, 2003, the Commission adopted the hearing officer's recommendation "to not sustain [DPSS] in the discharge and to make [Sandoval] whole."

While Sandoval was on leave, he lived with his parents on Randolph Avenue in Los Angeles (the Randolph address) until late 2001, on Copeland Street in Lynwood (the Copeland address) until late 2003, and thereafter on Occidental Boulevard in Los Angeles (the Occidental address). Sandoval acknowledged that DPSS employees were obliged to notify DPSS about changes in their address, but testified that this obligation attached only when they "were at work." According to Sandoval, he asked the attorney representing him in his action for workers' compensation benefits to notify DPSS of the changes in his address. He could not recall whether he personally contacted DPSS about the changes. Sandoval also acknowledged that he used his parents' Randolph address in connection with his claim for workers' compensation benefits, that checks for these benefits were sent to the Randolph address through June 21, 2004, and that after 2001 he continued to pick up his mail at that address.

In June 2004, Sandoval's claims for workers' compensation benefits were resolved in his favor. On June 23, 2004, he reported for work at DPSS, and was told he had been fired. He later learned that the termination rested on his failure to report for work in compliance with three notices (dated June 3, 2003, July 1, 2003, and Oct. 2, 2003), which had been sent to his parents' Randolph address. According to Sandoval, he never received the notices, even though he picked up mail at the Randolph address. In May 2005, Sandoval sought reinstatement by filing a petition for writ of mandate in the superior court, but his petition was dismissed for lack of prosecution.

At trial, Sandoval called Stallworth as a witness, who testified as follows: While she supervised Sandoval, she was unaware that he had complained about an incident of sexual harassment. As soon as she assumed responsibility for Sandoval's section, she heard complaints from clients about mistakes in his processing of their cases, and decided to transfer him to a position in which he was likely to make fewer errors. Sandoval appealed the reassignment to Stallworth's superior, who told her that Sandoval did not have to move. She charged Sandoval with insubordination in 2000, when she set a deadline for Sandoval to correct an error in one of his cases, and he failed to make a timely correction. She also charged him with unauthorized absences. Stallworth again tried to reassign Sandoval in 2001.³

In addition, Sandoval called Wendy Benson-Higgins. According to Benson-Higgins, she had been a manager in the DPSS Department of Investigative Services since 1998. As such, she participated in the investigation of Sandoval's grievance regarding his examination score in 1998, and otherwise reviewed and signed paperwork arising out of other investigations regarding Sandoval. She could not recall the events surrounding the 1998 grievance, and had little direct involvement with Sandoval's other grievances and his January 2002 discharge.

Benson-Higgins testified that after the Commission's January 2003 decision, DPSS sent three notices in 2003 to Sandoval at the Randolph address, asking him to return to work. DPSS mailed the notices upon receiving information that the Commission's criteria for restoring Sandoval to his position had been satisfied: DPSS learned that Sandoval's workers' compensation claim had been effectively resolved, and that his doctors had released him. Each notice consisted of two identical letters, one sent by certified mail and the other by first-class mail. The certified copy of each notice was returned as unclaimed.

The first notice, dated June 3, 2003, informed Sandoval that DPSS had rescinded his January 2002 discharge, and asked him to report for work on June 10, 2003.⁴ The second notice, dated July 1, 2003, noted Sandoval's failure to respond to the first notice, reaffirmed DPSS's decision to rescind his January 2002 discharge, and asked him to report for work. The second notice added: "If you fail to provide [DPSS] with a valid reason as to why you cannot report to work, further administrative action may be taken." The third notice, dated October 2, 2003, asserted that Sandoval, although twice directed to report for work, had "failed to do so without giving an explanation, and without any authorization." It further stated: "This letter is to inform you that if you do not report to work on or before ...