$1-Million Bias Suit Filed Against Agency
A woman recently ordered reinstated to her job with the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission filed a $1-million discrimination suit Monday against the agency seeking civil damages for the losses she said she suffered when she was wrongfully demoted.
Velma De Ponte, who was the highest ranking black woman on the commission charged with alleviating discrimination, claims her demotion was in retaliation for her earlier, successful suit against the county charging racial discrimination. Commission officials said they demoted her because of her “rigid attitude” and private statements critical of homosexuals and the Roman Catholic Church, but a judge rejected those assertions in reinstating De Ponte to the $33,000-a-year job in July.
De Ponte has not returned to work because of illness, her attorney said.
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