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Sinatra v. Chico Unified School District6/18/2004
CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION
Plaintiff Charles F. Sinatra, a former assistant principal at Chico High School, appeals the summary adjudication and judgment on the pleadings granted defendants Chico Unified School District et al. (the District) on his causes of action for discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (the FEHA; Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.) and for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy (Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167 (Tameny)). Despite the letter he received in July 2001 transferring him to a full-time teaching position, plaintiff asserts the FEHA claim he filed in August 2002 was timely, notwithstanding the one-year limitation period applicable to FEHA claims, because he believed his request for a part-time administrative position might be granted up until the academic year began in September. He also contends that a program allowing educators who might otherwise retire to work part time constitutes a fundamental and substantial public policy of this state. (Ed. Code, § 44922.) He insists a jury ought to decide whether the District is liable in tort for failing to provide him a part-time administrative position. In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we conclude that plaintiff's FEHA claim is not timely, and in the published portion of this opinion, we hold that his tort claim is not tethered to the kind of fundamental and substantial public policy required by Tameny and its progeny. We therefore affirm.
FACTS
Plaintiff was a full-time employee of the District for over 28 years, serving the last 11 years of his tenure as an assistant principal. Throughout this time period, plaintiff suffered from clinical depression. In January 2001 plaintiff requested a reduction to a part-time administrative position pursuant to District policies enacted under Education Code section 44922. On January 29, 2001, the assistant superintendent notified plaintiff in writing that the school board would meet on February 7 to consider reassigning him to a classroom teaching position. Plaintiff did not attend the board meeting. On that date, the board decided to reassign plaintiff from his assignment as assistant principal to a full-time teaching position. The following day, he received a "Notice of Release from Administrative or Supervisory Position and Reassignment Pursuant to Education Code Section 44951." Because such notices allowed administrative flexibility, plaintiff was not concerned. He had previously received similar notices reassigning him to the classroom and yet had been returned to his administrative duties the following school year.
On July 19, 2001, the District's deputy superintendent wrote plaintiff: "I'm sorry the offer of .4 assistant principal and .2 teaching position at Bidwell Junior High School will not work for you. [ ] As I stated, that was all we have to offer in the way of an administrative placement. Your assignment will be as a full time teacher for the 2001-02 school year at Chico High School."
In his declaration in opposition to the District's motion for summary judgment, plaintiff stated: "The ordinary practice of the school district was to make teaching assignments ideally in June at the beginning of summer break. However, any assignment that occurred in June would not be finalized until the middle or end of August, after final enrollment was completed. Once final enrollment was completed then we were able to learn which classes were going to require a teacher and be sufficiently filled and which classes although assigned a teacher, did not have enough students and had to be cancelled. Sometimes this process would go on into September as the class loads and ass
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