Tracey A. Kennedy

Kennedy’s clients in high-stakes employment litigation include Taco Bell Corp., Pacific Dental Services, Whole Foods Market Inc., Tullett Prebon Financial Services LLC and E&B Natural Resources Management Corp.

In a breach of contract claim over talent poaching, Kennedy won a $9.1 million win for Tullett Prebon against a former employee who walked away in the middle of her contract period to join a competitor for a seven-figure signing bonus. A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitrator awarded a complete victory to Kennedy’s client last December. Tullett Prebon Financial Services LLC v. Tradition Asiel Securities Inc. et al., 10-03265 (FINRA Dispute Res., filed March 8, 2011).

E&B Natural Resources, a Bakersfield-based oil and gas company, faced gender- and race-based sexual harassment and discrimination claims from a former employee, a survey technician. “She claimed that during her 11-month employment, she was discriminated against because her supervisors made negative comments about her and failed to provide her with suitable working accommodations and equipment,” Kennedy said. “She was hired out of school as a surveyor of oil and gas wells. She complained about field conditions — bees, the heat, cow poop in pastures where the wells were, even having to use port-a-potties. But come on, it’s Bakersfield.”

Complaints mounted. “She started not coming to work, she asked for an immediate raise, she would call in late and thought that was legitimate,” Kennedy said. “She had no witnesses. She was the only person who testified. She was asking for $400,000.”

The plaintiff also complained that she was retaliated against because she was fired just eight days after she raised her various complaints to the company’s human resources department.

Kennedy said she was able to eviscerate the plaintiff’s credibility on cross-examination and caught her in several lies that came to light through her own emails. “I didn’t want to beat up on her. So I let her talk and the more she talked the more she dug her own hole. She thought she deserved kudos because she came to work the day after her 30th birthday. The judge was not impressed. It came down to her having this entitlement mentality.”

E&B’s witnesses supported the defense theory that the plaintiff was an insubordinate, self-entitled employee who simply did not enjoy her job staking wells in the hot Bakersfield sun. Following a bench trial, Kern County Superior Court Judge David R. Lampe ruled on March 2 for Kennedy’s client.

“Plaintiff is a sensitive person,” he wrote, “and she was upset with criticisms of her performance as an employee.” But, he pointed out, this does not equate to discrimination or retaliation. Fletcher v. E&B Natural Resources, S-1500-cv-283186 (Kern Super. Ct., filed Oct. 10, 2014).

— John Roemer