The former director of affirmative action at Santa Clara University has failed to convince the California Court of Appeal to reinstate her discrimination and harassment suit.
According to the court, the university terminated Conchita Franco Serri in 2007 “because she failed to produce affirmative action plans for three consecutive years, even though her job required that she produce an affirmative action plan annually” and “because she made misrepresentations about the plans that she had failed to prepare.”
Serri, who is Puerto Rican, had held the position since 1992.
She sued the university, its president and other top administrators, alleging wrongful discharge based on race and ethnic origin, as well as defamation, emotional distress, breach of contract and other claims. She asserted that while affirmative action director, she never received data necessary to complete the plans and that requests to her superiors for that information went unfulfilled.
A superior court judge dismissed the case without trial, and the appellate panel unanimously upheld that decision in an opinion by Justice Miguel Márquez.
On appeal, Serri cited expert testimony several years after the termination that her failure to complete the reports did not adversely affect the university. But the court said that testimony was irrelevant to the discrimination claim and whether the university’s explanation for the termination was a pretext for discrimination.
“Before she was terminated, Serri told the university her failure to prepare an affirmative action plan could have adverse consequences, including the loss of federal grants,” the court said, and the fact that the university “ultimately suffered no adverse consequences” did not justify a trial.
