Pasadena : Ex-JPL Employee Loses Suit

A Pasadena woman has lost her $2-million sex-discrimination lawsuit against the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

She was awarded nearly $35,000 in past lost wages, but has to give some of that money back because she misused government money, the jury decided.

The verdict against Marilyn Bush, 44, came last Friday after a three-man, nine-woman jury deliberated nine days in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In a suit filed in March, 1991, the former JPL manager claimed that the laboratory and its supervisors sexually discriminated against her by demoting her in October, 1989. Supervisors also tried to retaliate against her when she brought up discrimination charges, she contended.

Bush resigned from the Pasadena-based company in March, 1992, and now works as a consultant for a Philadelphia-based software engineering firm.

Attorneys for JPL filed a cross-complaint, charging Bush with misusing government funds totaling $13,533.15 for her own business.

After a six-week trial, jurors found that JPL violated Bush’s contract but did not discriminate or retaliate against the woman, officials said. She was given $34,885 in past lost wages and benefits.

In turn, the jury agreed that Bush misused government funds and decided that she should pay back the amount as part of compensatory damages.

Bush’s attorney said she will ask the judge to set the verdict aside and retry the case with another jury.