Opinion ID: 2633435
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Richards's Transfer

Text: When Richards began her 10-month leave of absence in March 1989, she requested a formal transfer from the Redding office to the Sacramento office, both because it offered her closer proximity to her doctors, and because the Redding office was not wheelchair-accessible. Although the transfer approval process normally takes 60 to 75 days, approval of Richards's transfer took 11 months. It was not approved by the regional district manager, Robert Harding, until February 1990one month after Richards's return from her leave of absence. Nonetheless, Richards reported to work at the Sacramento office when she returned from her leave on January 2, 1990and in fact, had been working there prior to her leave of absence. The evidence suggested the approval of Richards's transfer was delayed primarily because Harding believed Richards had lied on her employment application about her medical condition, despite the lack of evidence of such misrepresentation. He was not inclined to accommodate an employee whose candor he questioned, a viewpoint he unhesitatingly expressed to some of the supervisors in the Redding and Sacramento offices. In 1990, Mike Kashiwagi, the civil engineering department manager, told Richards that despite her good work, Harding and those in the corporate office wanted her to resign.