 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Tran v. Allergan2/25/2002
Plaintiff and appellant Paul Tran appeals from a judgment entered in favor of defendants and respondents Allergan, Inc. and Bob Blahnik (collectively, defendants) after the trial court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment.
On appeal, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in refusing to admit into evidence declaration testimony from plaintiff and his former supervisor, and that the trial court erred in granting defendants' motion for summary judgment because plaintiff presented genuine issues of material fact. We hold that the trial court erred in sustaining many of defendants' evidentiary objections to the declaration of plaintiff's supervisor. Hence, we also hold that the trial court erred in granting defendants' summary judgment motion because the supervisor's declaration presented triable issues of fact. The judgment is reversed.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Plaintiff, a Vietnamese-American man, was hired by Allergan as a packager in 1985. By 1989, he was working as a systems operator in the information systems (IS) department. In late 1996, Allergan changed its computer system and renamed its IS department as the "Global Operations Center" (the center). At about the same time, Blahnik became plaintiff's second level supervisor as director of the new center. Robert Cordisco was plaintiff's first level supervisor.
In March 1997, as part of the reorganization, Blahnik laid off five of the six senior computer operators, but promoted plaintiff from senior computer operator to infrastructure analyst I, and increased his pay by 15 percent. Plaintiff contends that he was retained solely to train new employees, and that Blahnik told Cordisco that Blahnik had plans to terminate plaintiff at a later date.
According to plaintiff, Blahnik discriminated against Asians, especially Asians of Vietnamese descent. Blahnik stated that Vietnamese were "hard to understand," stated that "I don't like `em," and referred to Vietnamese as "smelly rice eaters." As a result of Blahnik's bias against Vietnamese, plaintiff contends that he was denied promotions, placed on counseling review, subjected to graveyard shifts, falsely accused of abusing sick time, denied a merit pay increase in October of 1997 based on a work performance review that was discriminatory, denied training for professional growth, and subjected to false accusations for divulging confidential business information. Specific allegations of discrimination will be discussed in detail in the analysis section of this opinion.
Plaintiff filed his first complaint of discrimination with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) on October 23, 1997, alleging discriminatory practices by defendants. Plaintiff filed a second DFEH complaint on October 31, 1997, and amended it on April 6, 1998.
In November 1998, after plaintiff filed two complaints with the DFEH, plaintiff's supervisor at that time, Linda Ruzi, recommended and Blahnik approved a pay increase of 14 percent. Three months later, in February 1999, Ruzi recommended and Blahnik approved plaintiff for promotion to infrastructure analyst II with a pay increase of 15 percent.
One month later, on March 1, 1999, plaintiff filed his third DFEH complaint. Thereafter, on March 23, 1999, plaintiff filed the instant lawsuit for discrimination based on race or national origin against Allergan, harassment based on race or national origin against both defendants, and retaliation against both defendants, under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code section 12940, et seq.
Defendants filed a joint motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 California Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|