Gonzalez

BACKGROUND

A. The Facts. The facts are largely undisputed, although the parties disagree about how they should be interpreted. Mission is a “community health center” that provides health care services to the medically underserved. Gonzalez began working at Mission in 2002. At the time of her termination in 2010, she was a patient service coordinator at a medical clinic on Mission Street in San Francisco. It appears that many of the clinic’s patients are native or fluent Spanish speakers, as are Gonzalez and many of the clinic’s other employees. Gonzalez received the first in the series of reprimands in February 2009 after she got into an argument with two other employees. Her supervisor intervened to stop the argument and directed the three employees to meet in the supervisor’s office, but Gonzalez refused to attend the meeting. As a result of the argument and her insubordination, Gonzalez received a written warning and was required to attend an anger-management program. In January 2010, Gonzalez got into another argument, this time with a different coworker, a supervising physician, after she refused to obey the physician’s directions. An investigator consultant was hired by…