Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

City sued for racial discrimination

Woman says she was passed over for a promotion due to skin color

A city employee of nearly 24 years filed a racial discrimination suit against the city on March 4, claiming higher-ups in the Purchasing & Contracting Department denied her a promotion because she is African American.

The lawsuit aims to expose the alleged longstanding practice of discrimination inside city hall, where minority workers are passed over for promotions or not given offices similar to their white counterparts.

Alice Daniels was first hired in March 1990 as a clerical assistant for the library department. She was eventually transferred to the Purchasing & Contracting Department as an associate management analyst, overseeing the city's procurement-card program. She remained in that position for nearly four years and was told by her former supervisor that she was next in line for a promotion.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The promotion soon began to slip away, says Daniels, when longtime city staffer Ed Plank assumed control of the department. It was then that she began to get a bad feeling about her chances for promotions.

"Plank had no experience in the Purchasing and Contracting Department. Upon Plank's arrival, he ignored and avoided [Daniels]," reads the lawsuit.

Then, in November 2012, Plank, who then served as the department's interim director, formed a panel to conduct interviews for the position allegedly promised to Daniels. Daniels says that despite being the only logical candidate, having managed the program for nearly four years, Plank and his colleagues chose a lesser-qualified applicant.

Two weeks after learning the news, Daniels filed an internal complaint with the city.

"I have been performing the duties of [senior] management analyst for [three] years, which is the time that I took over the Procurement Card Program (P-card). I have been working in the industry for [five and one half] years. I am certified for this unique program and have the education necessary. There is no way someone else had a better skill-set," contended Daniels in her December 2012 internal discrimination complaint form.

"I would like to be put in a position comparable to the one that I was denied and compensated for money lost. I want Purchasing and Contracting to stop the discriminatory practices."

The complaint didn't yield any results and, one year following the initial interview, Daniels went to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing to explain the situation.

"It is a very unique position in which I was the only person in the City who had the experience and credentials to run the program. Therefore, it is apparent that I was discriminated against based on my race and age," read Daniels’s November 30 complaint.

It was in her November 30 complaint that Daniels explained the culture of discrimination inside city hall:

"My situation was not the only act of discrimination. For instance, there were two senior procurement specialists [one] Black female and [one] White male. The Black female was denied the opportunity to work out of class [OCA] as a principal procurement specialist when it should have been rotated among the two senior procurement specialists as it states in the Personnel Manual H-3,2.

“Instead, only the White male was singled out to work out of class with additional compensation, and given an office. The Black female had to remain in a cubicle with no opportunity to gain new skills, earn additional compensation and/or fairly compete for that job or other promotional opportunities as they become available.

“It was also observed that Mr. Plank showed no respect or common courtesy to his Executive Assistant who was African American female. On several occasions he would disregard her and go to others for help or information, though she was the person that he should have gone to for questions and assistance as she was his assistant and had the answers."

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Holiday Guide – like none other

Candle-making, tree lighting, pajama jam
Next Article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?

A city employee of nearly 24 years filed a racial discrimination suit against the city on March 4, claiming higher-ups in the Purchasing & Contracting Department denied her a promotion because she is African American.

The lawsuit aims to expose the alleged longstanding practice of discrimination inside city hall, where minority workers are passed over for promotions or not given offices similar to their white counterparts.

Alice Daniels was first hired in March 1990 as a clerical assistant for the library department. She was eventually transferred to the Purchasing & Contracting Department as an associate management analyst, overseeing the city's procurement-card program. She remained in that position for nearly four years and was told by her former supervisor that she was next in line for a promotion.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The promotion soon began to slip away, says Daniels, when longtime city staffer Ed Plank assumed control of the department. It was then that she began to get a bad feeling about her chances for promotions.

"Plank had no experience in the Purchasing and Contracting Department. Upon Plank's arrival, he ignored and avoided [Daniels]," reads the lawsuit.

Then, in November 2012, Plank, who then served as the department's interim director, formed a panel to conduct interviews for the position allegedly promised to Daniels. Daniels says that despite being the only logical candidate, having managed the program for nearly four years, Plank and his colleagues chose a lesser-qualified applicant.

Two weeks after learning the news, Daniels filed an internal complaint with the city.

"I have been performing the duties of [senior] management analyst for [three] years, which is the time that I took over the Procurement Card Program (P-card). I have been working in the industry for [five and one half] years. I am certified for this unique program and have the education necessary. There is no way someone else had a better skill-set," contended Daniels in her December 2012 internal discrimination complaint form.

"I would like to be put in a position comparable to the one that I was denied and compensated for money lost. I want Purchasing and Contracting to stop the discriminatory practices."

The complaint didn't yield any results and, one year following the initial interview, Daniels went to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing to explain the situation.

"It is a very unique position in which I was the only person in the City who had the experience and credentials to run the program. Therefore, it is apparent that I was discriminated against based on my race and age," read Daniels’s November 30 complaint.

It was in her November 30 complaint that Daniels explained the culture of discrimination inside city hall:

"My situation was not the only act of discrimination. For instance, there were two senior procurement specialists [one] Black female and [one] White male. The Black female was denied the opportunity to work out of class [OCA] as a principal procurement specialist when it should have been rotated among the two senior procurement specialists as it states in the Personnel Manual H-3,2.

“Instead, only the White male was singled out to work out of class with additional compensation, and given an office. The Black female had to remain in a cubicle with no opportunity to gain new skills, earn additional compensation and/or fairly compete for that job or other promotional opportunities as they become available.

“It was also observed that Mr. Plank showed no respect or common courtesy to his Executive Assistant who was African American female. On several occasions he would disregard her and go to others for help or information, though she was the person that he should have gone to for questions and assistance as she was his assistant and had the answers."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Next Article

Will Trump’s Baja resort be built after all?

Long-stalled development sparks art exhibit, gets new life
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader