Stone v. County of Los Angeles CA2/3

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Brian Stone has worked for the County of Los Angeles (County) as an accountant for more than 30 years. In 1991, he transferred from the County’s Treasury and Tax Collector’s Office to the County’s Sheriff’s Department (sometimes referred to as the Department) to work as an Accountant II. Since transferring to the Department, Stone has never received a promotion. In April 2011, Stone, who was then 61 years old, applied for a promotion to Accounting Officer I. Although he was selected for an interview, Stone was not awarded the promotion. The Department opted to promote an employee who was eight years younger than Stone, but who was working in a higher ranking position than him and had more experience than him performing tasks relevant to the duties of an Accounting Officer I. In 2012, Stone sued the County1 for, among other claims, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on his age under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.).2 The trial court granted the County’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed Stone’s lawsuit.3 We affirm.

1 Specifically, Stone named the County, the Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles…