Egge

I. BACKGROUND

A. Overview

The county operates the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and is responsible for hiring, disciplining, and terminating physicians employed by the county to work at the hospital. Physicians hired by the county are “unclassified” at-will employees under the county charter. During the relevant period, the hospital’s senior leadership comprised the following individuals: (1) Jeff Smith, M.D., County Executive, (2) Paul Lorenz, Chief Executive Officer, (3) Jeffrey Arnold, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, and (4) Paul Russell, M.D., Medical Director. The county hired Egge in 2011 as a suspected child abuse and neglect (SCAN) specialist for the hospital. A SCAN specialist is a physician who is board certified in child abuse pediatrics and specially trained to evaluate children’s injuries for abuse. During her employment, Egge’s direct supervisor was John Stirling, M.D., another SCAN specialist, and both she and Stirling reported to Stephen Harris, M.D., then-chair

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Labor Code. 2 of pediatrics. Egge and Stirling were the hospital’s only two SCAN specialists and alternated fielding calls from colleagues about…