Burbank officer who claimed discrimination, pregnancy harassment loses appeal

A California appeals court sided with the city in a case involving a Burbank police officer who sued on allegations of racial and gender discrimination, along with pregnancy harassment.

Cindy Guillen, who identifies herself as Burbank’s first Hispanic female officer, sued the city in May 2009, claiming that she was ridiculed after getting pregnant, discriminated against because of her race, gender and pregnancy, and retaliated against after reporting the discrimination.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge threw out most of the case, which prompted Guillen’s appeal. Meanwhile, a jury deliberated on the pregnancy discrimination claim and eventually sided with the city.

In an opinion filed Friday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal affirmed the judge’s rulings.

Guillen’s attorney, Solomon Gresen, declined to comment on the case other than to say, “We’re evaluating our options.”

According to the opinion, Guillen had claimed that supervisors and colleagues said — in her presence — that women had “no business being detectives” and that women should be assigned to parks management because they were “useless.”

In another incident, one officer allegedly told her, using profanity, to be quiet or he would bend her over and sexually assault her.

She also claimed that she outperformed a male officer on the detective exam, yet he was promoted and she was not.

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When she became pregnant, she said that officers ridiculed her and that she was reprimanded for her improper “height-to-weight ratio.”

In the opinion, the appeals court wrote that Guillen provided evidence of a few sporadic incidents of pregnancy harassment that did not show “severe and pervasive harassment as required under [the Fair Employment and Housing Act].”

The appeals court also upheld the previous ruling on her discrimination claims, citing that she did not show that adverse employment actions were taken against her because of her race or gender.

Regarding her retaliation claim, the two adverse actions she claimed were taken against her included one that occurred before she complained and one that was not alleged in her complaint, according to the opinion.

Burbank Senior Assistant City Atty. Carolyn Barnes said Tuesday that the court made the correct decision based on the facts it had.

Guillen was one of five former and current Burbank officers to jointly sue the city, but each case was adjudicated separately.

When reached Tuesday, Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse said that he had not read the opinion but that his objective is for the agency to have closure from the slew of civil lawsuits filed around the same time involving claims of discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination. Together, these cases have cost the city more than $8.5 million.

Guillen, who has worked in the Community Outreach and Personnel Services bureau since 2011, is “high up” on the list of those vying for a promotion to sergeant, he said.

Alene Tchekmedyian writes for Times Community News.

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