Opinion ID: 3032985
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reprisals

Text: DeSantis became a sergeant in February 1996. Porter alleges that in July 1996, DeSantis told correctional officer 10150 PORTER v. CALIFORNIA DEP’T OF CORRECTIONS Scott Porter, Porter’s then boyfriend and now husband, that he better “watch out,” that Porter was a “whore” and would sleep with anyone. In August 1997, shortly after Porter finished her apprenticeship program, she called OPA seeking to be assigned a post other than a first watch post.2 DeSantis told her that there were no jobs available. Porter checked the master list and saw that other watches were available. She again called OPA and talked to Officer Leitaker, who worked under DeSantis. Porter heard “DeSantis tell Leitaker that there were currently no jobs open, for her.” (Emphasis in district court’s decision.) In January 1998, Porter was assigned to a second watch job, and at around the same time, DeSantis became the Personnel Assignment Sergeant in OPA. Porter went to OPA five or six times in 1998 and verbally requested vacations and holidays. Each time she asked DeSantis if there were any open holidays, he told her, in front of Officer Leitaker, “not for you.” Porter also sought three different transfers in 1998. In May, Porter requested a transfer to post R0227, even though Wheeler was the supervising officer for part of the post. Porter did not receive the assignment, and she alleges that DeSantis denied her the post and gave it to Pat Thompson. In June 1998, Lieutenant Anglea asked Porter if she was interested in post R0245. According to Porter, Wheeler, who was the supervisor for part of the post, went to DeSantis and told him that he did not want Porter. DeSantis did not give the post to Porter. That same month, Sergeant Knigge asked Porter if she wanted to transfer to R0222. Porter expressed interest, so Knigge filled out an assignment-change request, and in July 1998, Lieutenants Orr and Anglea signed off on the assign- 2 The first watch is from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. PORTER v. CALIFORNIA DEP’T OF CORRECTIONS 10151 ment change. DeSantis cancelled the transfer. Porter contends that Orr and Leitaker were surprised by DeSantis’ actions and considered the cancellation suspicious. The CDC, however, presented evidence that another sergeant had contacted DeSantis and complained that his unit was assigned a disproportionate number of apprentices compared to other units. The CDC represented that DeSantis reviewed the distribution, determined it was disproportionate, and remedied the problem by utilizing post R0222 as an apprentice position. In September, after DeSantis cancelled Porter’s transfer to post R0222, Lieutenant Anglea asked Porter, “What did you do to piss DeSantis off?” When Porter told Anglea about DeSantis’ prior actions, Anglea filed a complaint and reported the matter to Margene Ford, the Associate Warden, and to the CDC’s EEO Coordinator, without asking Porter if she desired such recourse. Subsequently, the warden decided that an EEO investigation was required. Between September and November 1998, Porter met several times with Ford. Porter asked Ford not to have anyone local investigate the complaint and Ford agreed. Nonetheless, Porter received an interview memorandum stating that a Sacramento office of the CDC had appointed a local officer to interview Porter. When Porter called the CDC’s EEO office in Sacramento, the office said that it knew nothing about the appointment. Porter was called for a meeting with Ford. Ford was angry and yelled at Porter for going “over her head” to Sacramento. Ford told Porter that things were going to get rougher; she asked Porter, “what the hell’s wrong with you?” Ford said, “I’m telling you, you can trust me and you’re looking at me like I’m a liar.” The Discrimination Complaint Unit of the CDC asked Porter to prepare a handwritten report of her complaint, which she did on October 15, 1998. Porter also filed a formal complaint for retaliation and sexual harassment. On one occasion during the investigation, DeSantis stood with his arms 10152 PORTER v. CALIFORNIA DEP’T OF CORRECTIONS crossed, and stared at plaintiff for almost five minutes. The investigation ended in February 1999 with a determination that Porter’s factual allegations were not sustained. Porter filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) on April 21, 1999, and filed her civil action on May 3, 2000. Meanwhile, Porter was off work on medical leave from November 6, 1998, to September 5, 2000. In December 1998, the union president called Porter at home and told her that she was not to come on the grounds of the CDC because she was a liability. In January 1999, Porter received a memo from the CDC stating that she had failed to get her annual tuberculosis test and warning that if she did not get one, she would be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. Porter was told by the Return to Work Coordinator at the CDC that she would have to go to her personal physician because she was not allowed on the grounds. In addition, while still on medical leave, Porter continued to receive notices of job changes and calls at home that she was absent without leave. She received a memo stating that she had failed to take a mandatory Use of Force Class and was subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. She also discovered that a negative performance evaluation that was supposed to have been removed from her file was still in her file. Once she returned to work, Porter was told she should use the back gate “so that she would have limited contact with correctional staff.” When she called the watch office to check in at the back gate, the office would hang up on her or insult her. In January 2001, when Porter was working at an entrance at which she was required to check all identification cards before allowing anyone to enter, a number of officers refused to present their identification cards and began yelling and PORTER v. CALIFORNIA DEP’T OF CORRECTIONS 10153 kicking the doors, banging the windows, and yelling obscenities and personal insults.