A former support specialist for Chaffey College lost the appeal of her discrimination case’s dismissal on Dec. 31. Kimberly Noseworthy alleged that she was forced to retire due to her age and her protected speech. She was 63 when she stopped working on Jan. 8, 2020.
California Central District Judge Jesus Bernal had granted summary judgment in favor of the college on Aug. 10, 2023.
The appellate court agreed with Bernal that Noseworthy did not show her age or her protected speech had caused the administrators’ conduct.
“Noseworthy provides no evidence suggesting that the District was motivated by her age in taking various alleged adverse employment actions…. Even assuming Noseworthy engaged in protected speech and that Hope and Hardie’s conduct amounted to an adverse employment action, Noseworthy offers no triable evidence or analysis establishing that her speech was a substantial or motivating factor for their conduct,” the ruling reads.
Noseworthy had worked as a support specialist in the college’s distance learning department since 2001.
She claims that Governing Board member Lee McDougal publicly calling her a liar, written reprimands, the monitoring of her bathroom visits, an investigation into claims that she was creating a hostile work environment for others and the placing of her on a performance improvement plan, along with other acts, resulted in a hostile work environment. These acts were done in retaliation to her internal complaints alleging age discrimination, inadequate asbestos control, and remote students’ difficulties accessing distance learning classes, she claimed
“Not only did Noseworthy receive the bad evaluation, she was also placed on a two-month administrative leave because Noseworthy, purportedly, complained to administration and her supervisors, these individual Defendants, that some of the faculty did not know how to use the computers and technology for distance learning and that she had received complaints from students who were left out of courses,” her complaint says.
The pressure from the alleged hostile work environment caused her to retire in 2019, her complaint said.
The ruling does not set precedent.
Case information
Case No. 5:20-cv-01142
Appellate No. 23-55760
Ninth Circuit Judges Gabriel Sanchez and Anna De Alba, and Arizona District Judge Jennifer Zipps, made the ruling.
Read the complaint here
Read Bernal’s judgment here
Read the appellate ruling here
