Nichols
Nichols v. County of Los Angeles Child Support Services CA2/3
Opinion
Opinion
Kitching, J.
INTRODUCTION
Plaintiff Michelle Nichols sued her employer, the County of Los Angeles Child Support Services Department (the Department), for discrimination and retaliation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, Government Code section 12960, et seq. (FEHA). The trial court granted the Department’s motion for summary judgment and awarded prevailing party attorney fees, concluding the Department had legitimate, nondiscriminatory and non-retaliatory reasons for the challenged employment actions. We affirm.
FACTS1 AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
1. The Competitive Application Process and Plaintiff’s Initial Total Exam Score Plaintiff has been employed as an attorney with the County of Los Angeles (the County) since 1998. She has worked as an Attorney II with the Department since August 2003. In 2008, Plaintiff applied for a promotion to one of four available Attorney III positions with the Department. The competitive application process was administered by the Department’s Exams Unit and was comprised of two components, each weighted at 50 percent: (1) a multiple choice examination, testing the applicant’s knowledge of the law applicable to child support issues; and (2) an…