Facts

Rasean Johnson filed suit against his employer, the City of San Diego, in relation to his treatment by Deputy Director Shelia Beale.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Johnson contended that he began working as a Records Stock Clerk in the City's Downtown Government Administration Building in September 2004, and soon was promoted to a supervisor position in the City Clerk's Office in December 2005. Johnson contended that around this time, the City hired Shelia Beale as a records analyst and both reported to the Deputy Director at the time, Kathryn Joy. Johnson alleged that Beale continually made inappropriate comments about religion to Johnson, particularly about his belief that same-sex marriage was acceptable. Johnson claimed that Beale was selected to replace Joy as Deputy Director in April 2011, and Beale continued to inappropriately force religious beliefs upon employees who reported to her. Johnson contended that Beale's comments and actions made him feel marginalized and stigmatized, and alleged that he was denied employment with the City of Chula Vista because Beale sat on its Civil Service Commission. Johnson claimed that after he declined to pray with Beale, she assigned him menial tasks below his job description and directed him to do physical labor with equipment he had not been trained on. Johnson argued that he and two co-workers filed a grievance with the City's Human Resources Department, which told Beale about the grievance but took no actions to protect the employees from Beale's retaliatory treatment. Johnson alleged further retaliation followed when Beale removed his supervisory duties and although the City's investigation found sufficient evidence supporting his grievances and religious discrimination, its failure to take action to halt Beale's retaliation required him to transfer to a position in a different city department with the same pay but lost seniority. Johnson asserted causes of action against the City for religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, hostile work environment, and retaliation.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: The City contended that its Equal Employment Investigations Office also investigated Johnson's allegations of retaliation, and found them not supported. The City contended that at Johnson's request, the City offered him a job transfer at his same salary. The city denied any retaliation resulting from Johnson's filing of a grievance. The City maintained that Johnson's grievance to the city did not result in adverse action against him in his job duties or position.

Result

The jury found that the removal of Johnson's title and/or job duties as imaging supervisor was an adverse employment action. The jury did not find that Johnson's transfer was an adverse employment action. The jury returned a $350,000 verdict for Johnson for emotional distress. The verdict was subsequently reduced to $300,000 in compliance with the Title VII statutory cap on compensatory damages. The parties settled the case post-trial based on the City's decision to forego an appeal and accept Plaintiff's compromise of claimed attorney fees and costs. The City therefore agreed to pay a total of $565,000 to resolve the case, which comprised of $300,000 as a statutory cap for general damages, and $265,000 in compromised fees and costs.

Other Information

The court dismissed plaintiff's religious discrimination and hostile work environment causes of action on the city's motion for summary judgment, and, only Plaintiff's retaliation claim proceeded to trial.