Paul Tanaka. Photo via Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
A retired deputy’s lawsuit, alleging that he endured an internal backlash for refusing to campaign for former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka or to falsify the applications of some recruits, can move forward to trial, a judge ruled Thursday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason said a jury should decide whether Ban Nguyen was a whistleblower and not merely a public employee engaged in his mandatory duty to tell his superiors about alleged corruption.
She rejected defense arguments that Nguyen’s free-speech rights were not violated and that he was not subjected to adverse employment actions, and that therefore his case should be dismissed.
“This case is going to trial,” Bryant-Deason said.
In his lawsuit filed in February 2015, Nguyen alleges violations of his civil rights and the state Labor Code. The suit names Tanaka, Los Angeles County, two LASD captains and two department sergeants. One of the captains, Judy Gerhardt, has since been promoted to commander.
Nguyen’s case is unrelated to another in which Tanaka was sentenced in June to five years in federal prison for his role in a wide-ranging 2011 conspiracy to derail a federal investigation of misconduct in jails.
However, Tanaka is due to surrender next week in that case and his ability to testify live in Nguyen’s case, set for trial Oct. 19, could hinge on whether the former undersheriff is released on bail pending the outcome of any appeal, said Nguyen’s attorney, Richard Love.
According to the lawsuit, Nguyen began working with the department in June 1996 and was a background investigator for the personnel bureau. He says that in 2012, a sergeant asked him to falsify documents for specified applicants so they could pass the background process and be hired. He claims he refused and complained to a lieutenant about the sergeant’s order, but nothing was done.
A captain asked Nguyen to campaign on behalf of Tanaka, but Nguyen declined and was subsequently demoted to a position doing background checks for prospective civilian members of the department, according to his lawsuit.
Two sergeants also gave Nguyen an excessively large caseload and subjected him to unwarranted criticism of his work, according to his lawsuit, which alleges a captain increased the retaliation after Nguyen complained to then-Sheriff Lee Baca.
Nguyen retired for medical reasons last November, but he would have stayed with the department longer had his alleged mistreatment not occurred, Love said.
Then-Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell defeated Tanaka, who also served as Gardena’s mayor, in November 2014 in a runoff election for sheriff.
—City News Service
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