Taite

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

I. Facts

A. Dispatch training program In March 2011, the City of Long Beach (City) hired plaintiff and four others as Public Safety Dispatchers I, which is a probationary, trainee position. Plaintiff’s class of trainees consisted of three Black trainees (including plaintiff), one Hispanic trainee, and one White trainee. The White trainee and one of the Black trainees (other than plaintiff) had previous experience as a dispatcher. The City’s dispatcher training program is rigorous. City dispatchers are tasked with taking incoming 911 calls and dispatching police officers and fire fighters to assist callers. To impart the skills necessary for this job, the City requires its trainees to attend classroom training followed by nine months of hands-on training where the trainees answer 911 calls and dispatch field officers while being shadowed and supervised by the communications training officer (CTO) assigned to them. A CTO assists his or her trainee with calls and dispatches, and also documents the trainee’s performance in weekly written evaluations that rate the trainee’s performance numerically (on a scale of one to four) and with narrative…