Garay v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group10/14/2005
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
INTRODUCTION
Defendants and respondents Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (collectively, Kaiser) fired plaintiff and appellant Anthony Garay. Garay sued Kaiser for, among other things, disability and age discrimination. The trial court granted summary judgment in Kaiser's favor, and Garay now appeals the judgment. We affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
I. Factual Background
A. Kaiser's Reorganization
Kaiser Permanente-Information Technology (KP-IT) is an unincorporated division of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. KP-IT manages and operates Kaiser's network and computer systems. Network Services is a subdivision of KP-IT. Network Design & Engineering (NDE) and Network and Telephony Planning, Video Services are subgroups of Network Services. As of December 2003, KP-IT had 4,124 employees, 3,198 of whom were in California. Of those in California, 1,633 were in Southern California, with 946 in Pasadena.
In 2002, KP-IT began an initiative to reorganize its departments, with the ultimate goal of producing a "leaner, meaner" KP-IT. The overall goal of the reorganization with respect to Network Services was to more effectively leverage the changing technologies and services available and to utilize the current organizations within Network Services more effectively. To that end, several suborganizations, including NDE, within Network Services were consolidated. The purpose was to align functions, eliminate duplication of work, and determine how to manage the work most effectively. Reorganization of Network Services began in September 2002.
Douglas Crawford, Network Services's director, asked Kenneth Lewis, NDE's senior manager, to recommend which positions should be eliminated. Raymond Perales, NDE's manager, assisted Lewis. NDE managers and supervisors prepared performance ratings using employees' 2002 performance ratings to assist them in determining who to lay off. In May 2003, Kaiser laid off 35 employees from Network Services, including 11 from its subgroup NDE. Of those 35 people, 25 were 40 or older. Garay, who worked in NDE, was one of people laid off.
B. Garay's Employment at Kaiser
Garay was first employed at Kaiser in 1983 as a Communications Coordinator I, and he was ultimately promoted to Engineer II in NDE. His job duties included project management, design for new medical office buildings, deciding what kind of equipment would be used and how it would be set up, and equipment configuration and testing.
In February 1997 he had a heart attack, and he did not return to work until January 1998. Then, in August 1998 he started kidney dialysis, but he did not tell anyone about the dialysis until January 2003. At that time, he began experiencing chest pain. After taking several days off work, he told Ray Perales he might be experiencing arterial blockage, and he was going to have an angiogram. He also told Perales he was an end-stage renal patient awaiting a transplant, and if he received a transplant he did not know how long he would be out.
Soon thereafter, on February 21, 2003, Perales notified Garay his position was being eliminated due to business reasons, and the layoff would go into effect 90 days later, on May 21,
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