Employee Wins $400,000 in Discrimination Claim

SANTA ANA —  An Orange County Superior Court jury awarded $400,000 Friday to a woman who sued St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, claiming she was a victim of sex and age discrimination.

Mary Ann Kovach, 53, the head of the hospital’s medical technology school and coordinator of quality assurance and safety, contended that her bosses unfairly laid her off and then rehired her for less pay at a demoted level.

The jury deliberated less than two days before awarding her compensatory damages. Jurors return Monday to consider punitive damages.

Kovach’s attorney, Michael J. Collins, said his client had been employed at the hospital for 25 years before she was discriminated against.

Collins said hospital officials told Kovach on April 18, 1991, that she was going to be laid off and then “informed her in a five-minute conversation” that she could stay on at the hospital in a non-supervisory position and at lower wages. Kovach accepted the demotion.

Kovach’s lawsuit alleged that hospital officials discriminated against her to “protect a male supervisor who was under 40 years of age.”

The lawsuit further contended that at the time she was told she was being let go from the hospital, her supervisors neglected to tell her that she was entitled to a severance package or could have “bumped” a lesser-tenured employee from a position she desired.

Collins said that during the trial, attorneys for the hospital argued that the layoff was not discriminatory.

Hospital attorneys could not be reached for comment.