Former City Worker Wins $585,000 in Discrimination Suit

Pasadena City Hall and its pocketbook took a stiff blow this week when a jury returned a $585,000 verdict against the city in a discrimination lawsuit.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury on Tuesday found the city had discriminated against a former black administrator, agreeing with his assertions that he was unfairly denied a promotion, suffered retaliation for advocating employees’ rights and was left with no recourse but to resign.

The jury also found that the discrimination was the result of city policy. The award included $300,000 for pain and suffering, $200,000 for lost wages and $85,000 for future earnings.

Plaintiff Eugene Stevenson, who quit his city job in 1990, called on other city employees to stand up for their rights. Stevenson said he is working in health administration but declined to provide details.

“I hope employees will understand that it might be hard and difficult to take this kind of road,” Stevenson, 55, of Altadena said in an interview. “But if they feel they’re unjustly treated there is recourse.”

City Manager Philip A. Hawkey declined to comment on the case, saying he had not been briefed by the city’s lawyer. But Hawkey said affirmative action reforms and other changes, such as diversity training for managers and minority training for promotions, had taken care of problems the city may have had.

“I have moved aggressively to implement numerous programs that have dramatically improved our record . . . in hiring, promotion and training of minorities and females,” said Hawkey, who became city manager in June, 1990.

Hawkey said 61% of people hired by the city last year were minorities and 68% of employees promoted were minorities.

Stevenson, who filed the lawsuit against the city in 1990, claimed racial discrimination by the city forced him to resign after working for Pasadena for 12 years.

He was acting director of the city’s Health Department for 18 months when he was passed over for a similar, permanent administrative position.

Stevenson quit after he was demoted to supervisor at the Jackie Robinson Community Center, a position he had held previously.

Stevenson alleged that the retaliation began in the mid-1980s after he founded the Pasadena Municipal Black Employees Assn.

The city’s lawyer, Jeffrey Freedman, said he will determine whether there are grounds for an appeal.