Facts

Kimberly Neal began her employment with the California State University in 2006, first at its Fullerton campus and two years later transferred to the Los Angeles campus as an Instructional Support Technician II. On December 7, 2020, Neal sued the Board of Trustees of the California State University for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, retaliation, and harassment.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: According to plaintiff, after she was involved in a car accident resulting in a post-concussion syndrome diagnosis in July 2010, her requests to accommodate her condition not only went unheeded, but her condition was further aggravated when defendant moved her into a heated room without ventilation in September 2013. At the time, the newly renovated building she was moved to had many empty office spaces, including one which plaintiff had been told she would be moved into. As her work required her to solder equipment, she required proper airflow. Though she made repeated requests about the conditions, including providing a doctor's note, plaintiff was continually ignored. Plaintiff also asserted that when she informed University authorities (including human resources, department heads, and campus administrators) about the issue, she was informed not to report her safety concerns to governmental entities. By 2017, plaintiff would do her desk work in another room which alleviated some of her health problems. The same year, she was forwarded an email stating that the problematic room was designed to be used only for storage and because of her doctor's order, stopped entering the room. In September 2017, four years after she complained about the unventilated room, she was finally assigned a new cubicle in a ventilated room. However, much of the equipment she needed and used was still in the problematic room, and the new cubicle was in a transited area, interrupting workflow, thus preventing plaintiff from performing her duties. In 2018, Neal reported certain safety issues to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Following its investigation, OSHA found that the unventilated room should only be used for storage and not as an office.

Plaintiff contended that her filings were timely and that the doctrine of continuing violations applied.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant contended that plaintiff's lawsuit should be barred based on untimely filing under the applicable statute of limitations and for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Additionally, defendant did provide plaintiff accommodations that included time off to recuperate from her accident, taking longer lunches, moving her to another room, and ultimately placing her in an office.

Result

The parties settled for $575,000.