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San Diego paying out $100K to Black laborer who claimed discrimination, retaliation

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(File photo)

Fired worker says Latino supervisors showed bias against Blacks with assignments, overtime, other perks

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San Diego is paying out nearly $100,000 to a former city Streets Division laborer who filed a lawsuit claiming he faced discrimination because he is Black and was retaliated against for complaining about unsafe work conditions.

The City Council is scheduled Tuesday to give final approval to a $97,500 settlement with Demetris Wimberley, who was fired for cause in January 2018 after he had worked for the city for just over a year.

The council unanimously approved the settlement Aug. 3 in a session closed to the public because it involved discussion of litigation.

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Despite agreeing to the payout, city officials deny the allegations and any wrongdoing. Documents submitted to the council say the parties have agreed to resolve the dispute “without an admission of liability.”

Wimberley’s lawsuit says city officials used a minor vehicle crash as an excuse to fire him in retaliation for his complaints, which focused on discrimination and how he was mistreated after suffering a foot injury on the job a few months earlier.

“The city lied about the existence of evidence and altered documents to hide the true reason for Mr. Wimberley’s termination,” the lawsuit says.

Troubles began for Wimberley almost immediately after he joined the city in November 2016 and was assigned to a work crew led by a Latino supervisor who favored Latino workers and rarely spoke English to employees, the lawsuit says.

Wimberley complained that as a Black worker he got unappealing assignments, less favorable shifts than Latinos, fewer opportunities for overtime and no duties that would be likely to lead to a promotion.

His lawsuit also claims that Latino workers were not put in dangerous positions where not enough workers got assigned to a task, but that Black workers often were.

Wimberley complained frequently about what he considered unfair treatment, but his lawsuit said supervisors and other city officials ignored those complaints.

Then Wimberley suffered a fractured foot on the job in April 2017 and was forced by city officials to come back to work a few days later, which the lawsuit says was not enough time off because Wimberley was still on crutches.

He reported the situation to the city’s fraud and abuse hotline, which the lawsuit says eventually led to a series of retaliatory acts. First, his probation was extended beyond the original one-year deadline, and then he was fired for cause.

The lawsuit says Wimberley requested a transfer to another city department in fall 2017, but his request was rejected.

The settlement comes a few months before a Dec. 17 jury trial that Superior Court Judge Keri Katz had scheduled in the case. Katz recently approved the terms of the negotiated settlement.

A city audit last year said San Diego could significantly reduce the nearly $25 million a year it spends on lawsuit payouts by investing in better employee training and deeper analyses of risks.

The audit found that San Diego spent $220 million total over nine fiscal years, from 2010 to 2018, handling about 20,000 claims and lawsuits filed during that time.

Wimberley’s attorney, Peggy Farrell, did not respond Monday to requests for comment about the case.

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