County Ordered to Find Job for Demoted Black

A black woman who was demoted from her job with the Los Angeles County agency charged with battling discrimination was ordered reinstated Thursday by a judge who called the county’s behavior “atrocious.”

Velma dePonte, who still is without a job nearly six months after an original court order for reinstatement, won an injunction requiring the county to find her a job somewhere within the county system comparable to the $44,400-a-year post from which she was demoted in 1984.

Argument Rejected

Superior Court Judge Jerry K. Fields rejected the county’s arguments that DePonte’s own physicians have said it would be too stressful for her to return to her post as executive assistant to the Human Relations Commission’s director, Eugene Morell.

“Tell Mr. Morell to give her her job back and give it back soon,” Fields angrily advised county lawyers, “or Mr. Morell may find himself sitting in the county jail.”

DePonte, a longtime county employee, had worked for the commission a little more than a year when Morell demoted her to a lower-paying consultant’s job, claiming that DePonte was frequently absent and had made remarks critical of homosexuality and the Catholic Church--assertions that a judge earlier this year ruled were without merit.

DePonte, who was the highest ranking black female working for the commission, claims the demotion was racially motivated and was in retaliation for a discrimination complaint she had lodged earlier as an employee of the county administrative office.

In that case, DePonte filed a letter of complaint after her supervisor appeared at work wearing a T-shirt that read “If you can’t choke ‘em, smoke ‘em.”

“I’m ecstatic,” DePonte said after Thursday’s hearing. “But I believe the necessity of coming into court today lets it be known to everyone it is not easy being black and female in this country.”

DePonte won her initial battle in July of last year when Superior Court Judge Norman R. Dowds ordered the county Civil Service Commission to rescind her demotion and reinstate her to her former job with the Human Relations Commission.

Disability Claim

The Civil Service Commission issued a reinstatement order, but county officials then refused to allow DePonte to return to work under Morell, citing her pending claim for workers compensation disability benefits stemming from job-related stress.

Returning her to the same job that produced the stress could make the county liable for a 50% penalty in addition to any disability benefits, deputy county counsel Alan K. Terakawa said.

DePonte agreed to accept any comparable-paying job within the county system, but after repeated interviews with various county departments over the last six months no jobs were offered, she said.

Terakawa said the county diligently attempted to locate a position. “Her job paid approximately $44,000 a year,” he said. “It’s not every department that has jobs at that level, and usually when you do have jobs at that level, you want to give them to your own people.”

The head of the county Black Employees Assn., Clyde Johnson, said in a declaration filed with the court that he believes the county’s refusal to reinstate DePonte was “racially motivated.”

Actions Called Malicious

“The County of Los Angeles’ attitude and actions in this case have been thoroughly malicious and repugnant,” Johnson said. “All black employees have been angered over the treatment of . . . Velma dePonte and believe their rights will be seriously chilled and impaired if these types of malicious actions are validated by the court.”

“I think what’s happened here is atrocious,” Fields said in granting the motion, adding that if he were permitted to award DePonte attorney fees “it would be in the five figures, at least.”

Morell and other Human Relations Commission officials declined to comment on the judge’s ruling. Terakawa said the county has not yet decided whether to appeal.