Bradley Denies He Promised Director of Zoo Permanent Job

Mayor Tom Bradley, testifying in Los Angeles Zoo Director Warren D. Thomas’ legal bid to keep his job, denied Friday that he ever promised Thomas a permanent post with the city.

In fact, the mayor said he approved the decision to fire Thomas from his $73,000-a-year job in June, 1986, when James Hadaway, general manager of the Recreation and Parks Department, approached him about it.

Hadaway, he said, “came to tell me some of the complaints about Dr. Thomas . . . that he now had a significant number of allegations and was proposing to terminate him.

“He wanted me to know what he was planning to do and to be sure that I would back him up in this position, and I assured him that I would,” Bradley said.

Allegations Made

Thomas, 56, was terminated after 13 years as zoo director based on what city personnel officials said were a series of improprieties, reportedly ranging from appropriating zoo supplies for his own use to using racial epithets and mishandling animal transfers.

After Thomas challenged the firing in court, a city-appointed panel exonerated him of seven of the original 12 charges and U.S. District Judge William J. Rea issued a preliminary injunction temporarily returning Thomas to his job.

Thomas’ final court hearing on his lawsuit began this week. In it, he is seeking permanent reinstatement, back pay and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

At issue is whether Thomas, who was not a regular Civil Service employee, could be fired without just cause and without a full hearing to refute charges against him.

Although city regulations do not require hearings for so-called “exempt employees,” Thomas’ lawyers maintain that he received assurances about the permanent nature of his job for years and, therefore, had a right to expect that he would not be unreasonably terminated.

No Hearing

Bradley testified Friday that exempt employees being fired are normally afforded no hearing, “other than a face-to-face discussion about that person’s service or performance.”

Although no legal cause is required for such terminations, he said, “if a person is failing to perform up to expectations, that would be the basis for any discharge; I would not do it on a whim.”

Bradley also denied that a press release he issued when Thomas was hired in May, 1974, indicating that he had been appointed the “permanent director” of the zoo, meant that Thomas would always have his job.

In that case, asked one of Thomas’ attorneys, Nathan Goldberg, why did the press release not describe him simply as the “new director?”

“I didn’t put that language in there, and frankly, I don’t know why the press secretary wrote it in that fashion,” the mayor said. “But I would not expect that someone reading that is going to assume this is a lifetime appointment.”

Thomas, testifying in his own behalf, said he asked Assistant Personnel Director Elliott Porter whether he could be fired when questions about his performance first were raised.

“Elliott said basically that you can’t be fired without just cause; you can’t be fired without the department having a case against you, a case that can be sustained and proved,” Thomas said.