Judge Voids Loss of Child Custody Over Job Transfer

An appeals court has overturned a Ventura County Superior Court ruling that a divorced Simi Valley woman would lose custody of her son if she took a job in Sacramento because it would have prevented her 4-year-old son from visiting his father.

Sandra Nyland, 28, turned to the 2nd District Court of Appeal after Superior Court Judge William Peck ruled that she would lose custody if she accepted a job transfer offered by her employer, Security Pacific Bank.

Peck said the transfer would not be a career enhancement for Nyland, whose Ventura County job was eliminated after the merger of Bank of America and Security Pacific. The job offer was for a clerical position in Rancho Cordova that pays $17,849.

Peck’s ruling, in which he called Nyland’s position a “scut job,” outraged local women’s rights activists, who contended that the job of her ex-husband, Dean Nyland, who owns an auto transmission shop, is no more important than that of his ex-wife.

Sandra Nyland, who has worked for the bank for three years and has a benefits package that includes health insurance for her son, said the move was in her best financial interest.

The appeals court ruling, issued earlier this week, allows Nyland to stay in Rancho Cordova, where she has been living since accepting the new position last month. Her former husband lives in Simi Valley and owns a shop in Sepulveda.

Nyland will retain custody of the child, Dean Jr., pending a final hearing in Superior Court on whether it is in the child’s best interest to remain with his mother.

To comply with the custody agreement, Nyland plans to accompany Dean Jr. on a weekly shuttle flight from Sacramento to Burbank so he can visit his father in Simi Valley, said her lawyer, Don Adams.