Local News in Brief : Deputy Sheriff Sues Again Over Sex Bias
Sgt. Susan Lynn Perez, who won a 1980 suit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for discriminating against female deputies seeking promotion to sergeant, sued the department again Thursday--this time contending that not enough women become lieutenants.
Perez, 42, of Whittier, filed her new $10-million class-action suit in U.S. District Court on behalf of herself and all other female uniformed sheriff’s officers who want to be promoted to the rank. Perez alleged that discriminatory examinations prevent all but a few women from reaching that level.
Although Perez was promoted to sergeant in 1980, she pressed her initial lawsuit and two years ago persuaded U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi to agree that she should have been promoted after first taking the sergeant’s test in 1975. He awarded her $106,000 in punitive damages as well as back pay plus interest.
Takasugi subsequently ordered the Sheriff’s Department not to promote any more deputies to sergeant until it instituted more equitable promotion procedures.
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