$1.1 million settlement OK'd by board ALLEGATIONS: Registrar-Recorder managers claim retaliation.Byline: Troy Anderson, Staff Writer The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five member governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district, the current members as of April 2006 are:
said of conduct not conforming with professional ethics. actions and misconduct. The employees alleged they were subjected to discrimination and retaliation RETALIATION. The act by which a nation or individual treats another in the same manner that the latter has treated them. For example, if a nation should lay a very heavy tariff on American goods, the United States would be justified in return in laying heavy duties on the manufactures and by former Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack. They blew the whistle on a range of alleged misconduct from wrongful termination wrongful termination n. a right of an employee to sue his/her employer for damages (loss of wage and "fringe" benefits, and, if against "public policy," for punitive damages). to race and age discrimination to attempted insurance fraud, they said in court documents. The plaintiffs were Chief Deputy Kristin Heffron, Assistant Registrar-Recorder Alvarez Lecesne and his wife, Management Services Head Desnee Lecesne. "We are glad the county has taken these steps we hope to rectify rec·ti·fy v. 1. To set right; correct. 2. To refine or purify, especially by distillation. the environment that existed at the Registrar-Recorder's Office," said Pasadena attorney Anne Richardson, who represented the three former employees. "I think it's a significant case because these were three very high-level directors who all experienced retaliation for supporting each other's allegations." Senior Assistant County Counsel John Krattli and the private attorney representing the county did not return calls for comment on the case. But McCormack said the settlement dismissed her from the lawsuit. "The allegations in this lawsuit are completely false," McCormack said in a written statement. "I have always supported diversity of employees and the facts are verifiable that the employees hired and promoted during my 12-year tenure as L.A. Co's Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk reflect the diversity of the community which I believe strengthens the workforce. "I was looking forward to going to trial to enable facts and evidence to prevail and am disappointed that the defendant, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, chose to settle this lawsuit." The supervisors instructed Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka to develop a corrective action A corrective action is a change implemented to address a weakness identified in a management system. Normally corrective actions are instigated in response to a customer complaint, abnormal levels if internal nonconformity, nonconformities identified during an internal audit or plan to address issues raised by the lawsuit. troy.anderson@dailynews.com 213-974-8985 |
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