Note: This article references Marin County grand jury reports in 2003 and 2009.
Marin County supervisors
approved a $786,000 settlement Tuesday for a former probation officer who
claimed he was fired out of retaliation for complaints.
The settlement follows a jury
verdict this month in favor of the probation officer, Marco Ramirez. The jury,
which heard the case in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, awarded Ramirez
$236,400 in lost wages and $200,000 for reputational harm and emotional
distress, plus attorney’s fees.
A hearing was planned for March
4 on the question of whether Ramirez should get his job back. Until the
settlement, Ramirez resolves all claims and will not be reinstated. Ramirez, 45,
now works for the South San Francisco Unified School District at less than half
his old salary.
“We are disappointed and
disagree with the jury’s verdict,” said Marin County Counsel Steven Woodside,
whose office represented the probation department and Ramirez’s former boss,
William Burke. “We do not believe his termination had anything to do with
retaliation. But we are pleased to close this case and move on.”
The payout funds will come from
an existing reserve account, the county said.
The settlement is a new blemish
for a county department whose historical pattern of internal litigation and
poor morale prompted reports by the Marin County Civil Grand Jury in 2003 and
2009.
In one case, a probation
officer filed a racial discrimination suit that resulted in a $1.6 million
verdict against the county and its chief probation officer in 2002. Between
2003 and 2009, 18 probation employees filed 10 more lawsuits against the
department, the civil grand jury noted.
In the case of Ramirez, who was
fired in early 2009 after 11 years with the department, he claimed the
termination was retaliation for going to the civil grand jury with complaints
about officer safety, including the lack of protective vests. He also claimed
he was fired because he participated in a federal class action regarding
overtime pay.
The county said Ramirez was
fired after an internal investigation into alleged work misconduct. Burke, the
probation chief at the time, said he received reports that Ramirez was in San
Francisco when he claimed to be working, and that he was taking a county car
home as a commute car.
“When acting in my capacity as
the appointing authority, I believed Plaintiff should be fired from
employment,” Burke, who retired in 2009 and lives in Oregon, said in a sworn declaration.
“That belief is based upon my position and experience as Chief Probation
Officer that Plaintiff’s conduct, as shown through the investigation, was
unacceptable. It is not based upon personal feeling against Plaintiff.”
Ramirez sued the county for
discrimination and retaliation. The federal courts dismissed the discrimination
claims, but the retaliation claim went all the way to trial. The jury ruled in
Ramirez’ favor on Feb. 10.
The settlement was reached
Friday, and the Board of Supervisors approved it in closed session Tuesday
morning.
Ramirez was represented by
David Poore of Walnut Creek.
Burke did not respond to a
request for comment Tuesday.
February
24, 2015
Mainij.com
News
By Gary Klein, Marin Independent Journal
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