Newspaper articles related to Law Offices of The Feldman Law Firm
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Daily News (July 26, 1996)
By Michael Coit
Las Virgenes Water Agency Settles Bias Suit
CALABASAS -- The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District will pay a former employee $380,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit, but a related action appears headed for trial.
Leon Holiday and Jonathan Vo filed suit against the district in January in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming they were harassed and denied promotions based on their race and nationality, respectively.
Both also claim that supervisors retaliated against them and that the district failed to prevent harassment and discrimination. Holiday is African-American. Vo is Vietnamese.
The district's board voted Tuesday to settle with Holiday, who resigned as part of the agreement. The district did not admit fault, district officials said.
"The anticipated high cost of continuing the case was a large factor in the decision to reach this settlement," General Manager James Colbaugh said in a prepared statement.
While the district agreed to settle Holiday's claims, no settlement offer has been made to Vo, said their attorney, Lee Feldman.
"It doesn't make sense to me that they would do that," Feldman said. "That case is going to trial. What I find unusual is they're saving nothing" in attorney fees.
Holiday was with the district more than three years and worked at the composting plant.
Vo, who works at the Tapia water reclamation plant, has been with the district more than six years.
Their complaints alleged a pattern of discrimination and harassment by supervisors over a period as long as five years. The practices created a racially hostile and abusive work environment, according to the suits.
The complaints were filed under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, which holds employers liable for harassment by anyone in a supervisory position.
Holiday's claim described taunts at work, including racial slurs and caricatures drawn on a blackboard. Holiday also claimed that his performance review was downgraded because a supervisor failed to do maintenance work.
Vo claims he endured racial slurs and taunting, including pictures of the Vietnamese flag on stickers placed in urinals.
Both men charged district officials with knowing about their complaints and failing to take corrective action. They claim the district didn't have procedures necessary to prevent harassment and retaliation in the workplace.
An internal review by the district resulted in the firing of three supervisors. Two other supervisors did not have contracts renewed and one resigned, district officials said.
Colbaugh's statement concerning the holiday settlement said the district is committed to "zero tolerance of harassment and discrimination."
"My belief is that there will be a zero tolerance policy and things will get better," Feldman said. "right now, there's a sort of siege mentality because the people are still working there."
The settlement is the second by the district in recent years related to discrimination. Las year, the board approved a $62,500 sexual discrimination settlement with an employee, Donna Wright, who worked at the Rancho Las Virgenes composting plant.
Formed in 1965, the Las Virgenees Muncipal Water District serves 62,000 residents in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and unincorporated areas of western Los Angeles County.
The district operates several facilities, including the Tapia water reclamation and Rancho Las Virgenes composting plants, where the complaints originated.
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