County Accused of Bias Against Latino Employee

A state agency has accused Los Angeles County of denying a promotion to a veteran Latino employee because he had complained about discrimination in the Parks Department.

In a civil rights complaint filed last week, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing accused the county Parks and Recreation Department of “discriminatory retaliation” against employee William De La Garza “because he opposed practices forbidden by the Fair Employment and Housing Act.”

De La Garza, a 30-year county employee, has claimed that he was passed over for promotion to regional director in the Parks Department because he is Latino and because of his allegations of discrimination.

In its eight-page complaint, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing said that De La Garza was the “clearly most qualified candidate” for the regional director’s job, but was denied the position because he had filed discrimination complaints against the county. The state agency issued the complaint in response to allegations of discrimination filed last year by De La Garza.

The complaint, which will be the subject of a hearing before an administrative law judge in November, seeks De La Garza’s immediate placement as the permanent director of the department’s eastern region and unspecified damages for emotional distress. It also seeks the posting of notices at county facilities explaining the laws prohibiting retaliation and discrimination.

While finding no evidence of racial discrimination, the Civil Service Commission in March ruled that parks officials violated Civil Service rules by promoting a friend of a department official over De La Garza. The commission ordered that the current regional director, who is Latino, be replaced by De La Garza, but parks officials have appealed the decision to the courts.

Rodney Cooper, director of the county Parks and Recreation Department, referred calls to the department’s attorney.

The attorney, Dale Gronemeier, noting that De La Garza’s claims of discrimination had been rejected previously by the county Civil Service Commission, predicted that the department will prevail again at the hearing before the administrative law judge.

“This is the second bite of the apple by Mr. De La Garza,” Gronemeier said. “He is not willing to accept the result” of the Civil Service Commission.

De La Garza’s complaint come on the heels of allegations by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the county Department of Health Services has discriminated against Latinos in hiring and promoting.