Allen v. The Regents of the University of California

District Court, N.D. California·Decided November 6, 2023·No. 4:21-cv-03856·Unknown

Opinion

RUBY L ALLEN, Case No. 21-cv-03856-KAW Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART v. DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; REQUIRING PAUL LANDRY, et al., SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING Defendants. Re: Dkt. No. 51 Plaintiff Ruby L. Allen filed the instant case against Defendants Regents of the University of California (“UC Regents”), Paul Landry, and Jaycee De Guzman, alleging age, disability, and race discrimination. (See First Amend. Compl. (“FAC”), Dkt. No. 12.) Pending before the Court is Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. (Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J., Dkt. No. 51.) Having considered the parties’ filings, the relevant legal authorities, and the arguments made at the October 19, 2023 hearing, the Court GRANTS IN PART Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The Court further ORDERS the parties to provide supplemental briefing, and DEFERS ruling on the remainder of the motion for summary judgment. In 1989, Plaintiff began her employment with Defendant UC Regents, working at the University of California, San Francisco (“UCSF”). (Allen Decl. ¶ 2, Dkt. No. 68-2; Barrick Decl., Exh. 1 (“Allen Dep.”) at 36:19-20.) Plaintiff became an Administrative Assistant III, working at the service request desk in facilities management. (See Allen Dep. at 40:6-9, 40:17-20.) In this position, Plaintiff was required to take calls, send out work requests, and dispatch requests to the appropriate person. (Allen Dep. at 40:12-16.) related to a shoulder injury. (Allen Dep. at 95:25-96:3, 101:19-102:1, 197:25-198:5.) Upon her return, her supervisor was Defendant Landry. (Allen Dep. at 102:5-7.) In Plaintiff’s 2014-2015 performance evaluation, Defendant Landry stated that Plaintiff met expectations, but noted that while Plaintiff’s accuracy in processing work orders was good, her volume of work was “considerably lower than the other dispatchers on the team. Completion about 150 work orders a month compared to 700-800 of other dispatchers.” (Allen Dep., Exh. 19 at 3.) In 2016, Defendant De Guzman became Plaintiff’s direct supervisor, while Defendant Landry became Assistant Director of Customer Service and Technology. (De Guzman Decl. ¶¶ 9- 10.) In Plaintiff’s 2016 evaluation, Defendant De Guzman stated that Plaintiff partially met minimum standards, and that the “volume and quality of work is well below expectations,” including “[o]ften fail[ing] to assign the correct cost center and Unit code.” (Allen Dep., Exh. 26 at 1.) Defendant De Guzman placed Plaintiff on a performance improvement plan (“PIP”) from May to July 2017, which Plaintiff completed. (De Guzman Decl. ¶ 21.) In Plaintiff’s 2017 evaluation, Defendant De Guzman stated that Plaintiff met all expectations. (Allen Dep., Exh. 30.) In Plaintiff’s 2018 evaluation, Defendant De Guzman again found that Plaintiff met all expectations, but stated that Plaintiff took 37% more time to handle simple queries or process requests. (Allen Dep., Exh. 31.) Plaintiff asserts that starting around 2018, Plaintiff began to experience harassment based on her age and disability. (Allen Decl. ¶ 2.) Plaintiff asserts that she was called “old” and “Grandma” by her manager, supervisor, and other co-workers, was criticized for being slower than others on her team despite meeting job expectations, was scrutinized in her work differently than younger people were scrutinized, was criticized for her technical expertise when working from home during Covid even though IT technicians agreed she was not at fault for her issues, experienced insinuations that she was incompetent and too old to learn whenever technology was discussed, and was asked when she was “going to leave” or “going to retire” by a manager and supervisor. (Allen Decl. ¶ 4.) Plaintiff also alleges that due to her disability, she was criticized and threatened with time to attend to workers’ compensation appointments. (Allen Decl. ¶ 5.) In contrast, Plaintiff asserts other co-workers were frequently allowed to work additional hours or to make up absences without having to use personal time, while Plaintiff was told to wait to see how much work would be available. (Allen Decl. ¶ 14.) Defendants contend that while Defendant De Guzman and Landry allowed Plaintiff to arrange her schedule to “make up” time she missed for doctor’s appointments by coming in early or staying late, rather than using her vacation or paid sick leave, Plaintiff sometimes failed to give sufficient advance notice of her absences. (De Guzman Decl., Exhs. 17 (Plaintiff’s request to work early that day to make up for the prior day’s appointment), 20 (De Guzman reminder to give notice of making up time ahead of time for approval), 25 (Plaintiff’s 4:00 p.m. request to work until 5:00 p.m. to make up for the prior day’s appointment).) Plaintiff also alleges that she was held up for ridicule in front of others on the team because she worked at a slower pace, despite working with a disabled arm. (Allen Decl. ¶ 5.) Plaintiff further alleges that at an unknown point, she reported these issues to management and asked that they be addressed. (Allen Decl. ¶ 6.) Thereafter, management allowed co-workers to comanage Plaintiff and her work, allowed co-workers and her supervisor’s friends to sit in on what were supposed to be one-on-one meetings between Plaintiff and her supervisor, questioned when Plaintiff was going to leave or retire, refused to take her complaint to HR unless Plaintiff “answered her questions first,” and sent Plaintiff to labor relations to create a paper file and threaten to have Plaintiff terminated. (Allen Decl. ¶¶ 7-10, 12, 17.) Additionally, a co-worker allegedly locked Plaintiff in a room and told Plaintiff she could not leave until she told her certain information. (Allen Decl. ¶ 13.) Plaintiff also asserts she had to go to a union representative to get her supervisor to stop harassing her about leading the daily huddle. (Allen Decl. ¶ 15.) In September 2018, Plaintiff e-mailed Jon Giacomi, the then-UCSF Assistant Vice Chancellor, Facilities Services, Campus Life Services, complaining about Defendant Landry. (Allen Dep. at 247:15-25.) Plaintiff asserts the work environment got worse after that. (Allen Dep. at 254:8-11.) In March 2020, Plaintiff began working remotely due to the Covid pandemic; she came security guard. (Allen Dep. at 204:20-205:23.) Sometime in 2020, Plaintiff contacted the Office for Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination. (Allen Dep. at 259:8-13.) On January 18, 2021, Plaintiff was deemed able to work at full capacity. (De Guzman Decl., Exh. 27.) On February 11, 2021, Plaintiff filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”). (Allen Dep. at 193:14-194:10, Exh. 27.) In her charge, Plaintiff asserted that she had been harassed due to her protected class, including being called “Grandma” and asked about her retirement plan. (Allen Dep., Exh. 27 at 1.) Plaintiff stated that when she returned from leave, she was given new tasks that she had not been trained to perform, with changed and increased duties. (Id.) She also asserted different treatment on her return, including being told she was slow and old. (Id. at 1-2.) When she made written complaints, she was subjected to alienation, acts of violence, demeaning remarks, threats of termination, and negative performance evaluations. (Id. at 2.) On May 21, 2021, Plaintiff filed the instant action. (Compl., Dkt. No. 1.) On July 29, 2021, Plaintiff announced that she was retiring, effective August 2, 2021. (De Guzman Decl., Exh. 31.) In her messages, Plaintiff thanked her team and stated that she would miss everyone. (Id.) Plaintiff states, however, that she had originally planned to work until 2029, but that she retired early because she “was no longer able to sustain the impact on my [sic] of what was taking place at work.” (Allen Decl. ¶ 3.) On August 30, 2021, Plaintiff filed the operative complaint, alleging claims of: (1) age discrimination unde

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Allen v. The Regents of the University of California, (N.D. Cal. 2023).

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