Opinion ID: 3051354
Heading Depth: 7
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to cross-train

Text: Surrell also contends that Cal Water and Cox discriminated against her by failing to cross-train her for the Head Cashier 2342 SURRELL v. CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE position. Surrell sets forth a prima facie case on this claim, stating that Cox refused to train her for the position and that Defendants cross-trained Denise Holt, a younger, white woman with less seniority. [8] Defendants have produced a non-discriminatory reason for not training Surrell. Cox testified that Cal Water chose to train Holt for the position because she had already done a portion of that job that she had learned on her own and therefore required less training than Surrell would have required. This was particularly relevant because Cal Water’s time for training was limited because it was in the process of converting to a new computer system and taking over a new billing account. Surrell contends that “Cal Water offered no material evidence that it was engaged in the claimed conversion such that training could not be accomplished,” Surrell’s Br. at 27, and that Cox’s testimony regarding the conversion is inadmissible hearsay. But deposition testimony is ordinarily hearsay at trial, not in a summary-judgment motion. Orr v. Bank of Am., 285 F.3d 764, 779 n.27 (9th Cir. 2002); Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c) (allowing deposition testimony in summary-judgment motion). Moreover, Surrell admitted that management told her that the increased office workload due to the conversion was the reason Cal Water did not cross train her, and she admitted that the conversion caused the increased workload. Surrell fails to provide sufficient evidence that this reason was pretextual. In any event, the collective-bargaining agreement explicitly states that “[t]emporary jobs that cannot be predetermined to last longer than one hundred twenty (120) days will be filled at management’s discretion”—without regard to seniority. ER at 315. Knowing that it could have Holt fill in for this position at its discretion, management could fairly decide—because of concerns about limited time—to crosstrain her instead of Surrell. SURRELL v. CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE 2343