Van Pena v. Timothy Meeker

MEMORANDUM

Pena alleges that he was terminated in retaliation for a February 2001 memo in which he reported suspected mistreatment of a Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) patient to the defendant, SDC Medical Director Judith Bjorndal. “[W]hen public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline.” Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 421 , 126 S.Ct. 1951 , 164 L.Ed.2d 689 (2006). SDC Policy Section 400, “Abuse, Mistreatment or Neglect Prevention,” requires any SDC staff having knowledge of patient mistreatment or neglect to “report the events in question to appropriate authorities.” The reporting requirements direct staff members to report such incidents to their supervisors, or “[i]f a staff [member] is uncomfortable with reporting to his/her supervisor, a staff person may report through another channel, such as program director, program assistant, nursing coordinator, department head, SDC police, special investigator, quality assurance staff, or a facility administrator.” Because Pena’s reporting of…