New Hearing Ordered for Fired Zoo Director

A federal judge Tuesday ordered the City of Los Angeles to grant “a full and fair hearing” before an “impartial tribunal” to fired zoo director Warren D. Thomas, but declined to give Thomas his job back pending the hearing.

U.S. District Judge William J. Rea, granting only part of Thomas’ request for a preliminary injunction, ruled that Thomas, who was dismissed from the $73,000-a-year post on June 3, was entitled to a full hearing but did not receive one.

However, the Los Angeles judge rejected the other half of Thomas’ request--that he be given back the job. Reinstating the zoo director before the city holds its hearing would be “premature,” Rea said in his six-page court order.

Thomas filed suit three weeks ago, seeking an order blocking the city from naming a successor and asking for reinstatement. The action, which names the city and James E. Hadaway, general manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks, as defendants, also seeks unspecified damages. The request for a preliminary injunction was part of this broader legal action.

In his order issued late Tuesday afternoon, Rea said that lawyers for Thomas showed “a probability of success on the merits of his lawsuit.”

Rea said the Recreation and Parks Commission must appoint an “impartial tribunal” to hear arguments in Thomas’ case within 30 days.

The brief disciplinary hearing held by Hadaway and two other department officials was insufficient, the judge said. Rea said Hadaway was given only four days notice, not enough time for his lawyer to obtain witnesses and prepare his case.

Hadaway and his two assistants were not “disinterested” parties, Rea said.

The tribunal to be impaneled by the department’s commissioners should be “impartial,” the judge said.

The city had contended that it had a right to fire Thomas, as an employee exempt from Civil Service rules, at will.

Request ‘Premature’

In denying Thomas’ request for immediate reinstatement, Rea said that would be “premature” because the court-ordered hearing “may result in the confirmation of the decision to terminate his employment.”

Thomas said he was “elated” with Rea’s decision, and his attorney, Gloria Allred, said it granted the fired zoo director “our main goal--a fair hearing.”

Hadaway declined comment, referring all questions to a spokesman for the city attorney’s office, who said only that Rea’s order would be “reviewed . . . to determine what action might be appropriate.

Hadaway fired Thomas, 55, a veterinarian who had served 12 years as director, because of what the general manager termed “a series of internal problems” at the zoo. Testifying during a four-day hearing before Rea last week, Hadaway called Thomas “the poorest senior manager I’ve ever been associated with.”