Charges of Racism Ruled Unfounded

The Ventura County Civil Service Commission on Thursday released a report concluding that top managers did not discriminate against three minority employees of the Ventura County Resource Management Agency.

Three employees of the agency’s building and safety department alleged in August that they were singled out for layoffs and demotions because of their races.

G. D. Mayer of East Indian descent; Jihad Fakhoury, an Arab-American, and Ernie Jiminez, a Latino, filed the complaint following separate rounds of budget cuts between 1991 and 1992.

Mayer, a senior planning engineer who was demoted in August, also took his grievance to the county affirmative action officer, who recommended in January that Mayer be reinstated.

But the Civil Service Commission, after conducting a series of hearings earlier this year, determined Thursday that no such discrimination took place, despite statistics supplied by Mayer that showed most of those affected by layoffs and demotions in his department were minorities.

The commission ruled that management’s personnel moves “were a neutral practice and consistent with business necessity.”

Mayer said the commission never took the complaints seriously.

“They didn’t even address all of the charges we listed,” he said.

Agency director Tom Berg said the report validates his personnel decisions. “Government in general is in a difficult time because we’re downsizing and people are losing their jobs,” he said.

The three employees have filed a formal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which still is investigating the Ventura County building and safety department.