JURY WILL DECIDE SUIT'S MERIT JUDGE FINDS REASON TO ORDER TRIAL IN WRONGFUL FIRING CASE.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer PALMDALE - The 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). lawsuit filed by former Palmdale School District The Palmdale School District is a school district that serves a major part of the city of Palmdale, California (USA). The Palmdale School District was first formed in 1888. Approximately 28,000 students are enrolled in the Palmdale School District. official Diana Beard-Williams is headed for trial after a federal judge denied the district's request to throw the case out of court. Beard-Williams, the district's former public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most director and executive director of its fund-raising foundation, filed suit in June 1999 after the school board voted 3-2 to fire her. The suit claims that Beard-Williams was fired because she is African-American. ``This ruling hereby permits plaintiff to take her remaining claims to trial. It is not a finding that her claims have merit. That will be up to the jury to decide,'' U.S. District Judge A. Richard Matz wrote in his decision, which was issued Monday. Matz also wrote that Beard-Williams ``offers statistical and anecdotal evidence anecdotal evidence, n information obtained from personal accounts, examples, and observations. Usually not considered scientifically valid but may indicate areas for further investigation and research. that defendant discriminated against black employees . . . A rational trier of fact trier of fact n. the judge or jury responsible for deciding factual issues in a trial. If there is no jury the judge is the trier of fact as well as the trier of the law. could infer from all the evidence that plaintiff was terminated because of her race.'' Both sides have predicted they would emerge victorious from the trial, which is scheduled to start early next year. ``We're confident at trial we will prevail. As the judge indicated, we can support our case, and we think a jury will agree with us,'' said Renee Campbell, Beard-Williams' attorney. Superintendent Nancy Smith said the judge's ruling was not a surprise. ``From the beginning, we figured it was going to end up in court, and we're ready,'' Smith said. ``I would say if it goes based on evidence, we will prevail.'' Beard-Williams, who said she is not working and under medical care, said she wants to go to trial to clear her name. ``The last two years have been hell for my family. The only thing that we have tried to do is get justice so that I can move on with my life,'' Beard-Williams said. ``I want my two children to believe in the American system The term American System can mean one of the following:
Beard-Williams was fired in April 1999, four months after she was placed on paid leave by Smith and locked out of her office. Her annual salary was $59,347. Beard-Williams had maintained that she and Smith had a falling out after Beard-Willliams refused to participate in what she claimed was an attempt to defraud To make a Misrepresentation of an existing material fact, knowing it to be false or making it recklessly without regard to whether it is true or false, intending for someone to rely on the misrepresentation and under circumstances in which such person does rely on it to his or the federal Head Start program by charging it for nearly $1 million in spending unrelated to the program. In 1998, in response to rumors of wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do , the 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 Office of Education audited the Palmdale Head Start program. The county office made no findings of fraud, but ordered the district to repay $178,496 in salaries and benefits it did not adequately document. The district made 21 allegations against Beard-Willliams, including failure to properly manage foundation funds and records, directing a foundation board member to remove $4,200 from a foundation bank account, failing to file foundation tax returns on time and falsely claiming to have left a large amount of cash in her office when she was locked out. While the district said Beard-Williams failed to properly manage foundation funds and records, it did not charge her with misappropriating funds, other than $35 she took in exchange for a personal check and an IOU IOU An abbreviation of the phrase "I owe you." Notes: An IOU in the business community is actually a legally binding agreement between a borrower and a lender. The terms of the loan are set out in a contract, and, once it's signed, the two parties must abide by the terms . The district also said several school district employees claimed Beard- Williams had threatened, yelled at or otherwise bothered them. Beard-Williams said she was overworked - running the foundation while acting as the district public relations director. She also said she was denied for years the help she needed to manage the books correctly, and was taking steps on her own to fix the records when she was locked out of her office. |
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