Black Sacramento utility workers claim racial discrimination in lawsuit against SMUD
Four Black employees at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District are seeking a jury trial after they filed a civil lawsuit against their employer, alleging racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
The workers said they repeatedly were passed over for promotions as managers chose less qualified white job candidates, according to a plaintiffs’ complaint filed Jan. 4 in Sacramento Superior Court.
SMUD officials said discrimination allegations in the employees’ lawsuit were investigated and unfounded. The utility said it values all its employees and has a commitment to support diversity, inclusion and belonging within its workforce.
“We do not tolerate discriminatory behavior of any kind,” SMUD said in a written statement sent to The Sacramento Bee.
Michael L. Justice, a Southern California-based attorney, filed the lawsuit against SMUD on behalf of the employees, Amy Ayers, Dwayne Pugh, Rodney James and Deborah Bates-Pettaway. The attorney argued that the workers were targets of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on their race.
“SMUD even went so far as to claim that it independently investigated Ayers’, Pugh’s, James’ and Bates’ complaints, but the investigations were handled in such a way as to guarantee a predetermined outcome that would not find any discrimination,” Justice argued in the filed lawsuit. “Further, SMUD concealed the report from them.”
Passed over for promotions
Ayers is a senior procurement specialist who started working for SMUD on Nov. 2, 2002. She has applied for several posted opportunities for promotion over the past several years. She applied in 2017 for a job as a supervisor with SMUD’s Supplier Education and Economic Development program.
Ayers says she was passed over for the promotion, despite being qualified for the job. She also did not get a job as a supply chain supervisor that same year. The job was instead given to a white man, Ayers said.
In fall 2021, Ayers applied to become procurement supervisor, a job that Ayers was qualified to perform and had long aspired to hold, according to the lawsuit. The job candidates were narrowed to Ayers and a white man after an initial round of interviews.
“Ayers was more qualified and experienced than the white male candidate, and based on her experience and qualifications, Ayers was confident that she would be selected for the position,” Justice argued in the filed lawsuit.
Ayers alleges that a SMUD manager, a white man who is responsible for all hiring decisions, required the two candidates to go through another interview and decided Ayers was not the right “fit” for the job. The job was given to the white man.
Ayers submitted a complaint to SMUD, saying its promotion policies were discriminatory against Black employees. She said SMUD told her it investigated her complaint, but the utility had already decided it had not discriminated, according to the lawsuit.
SMUD says discrimination claims without merit
SMUD officials said employees are required to complete anti-discrimination and harassment training and unconscious bias training, with additional requirements for supervisory staff.
“SMUD vigorously investigates all claims of discrimination and harassment, including current allegations that are part of pending litigation,” SMUD officials said in the written statement. “SMUD’s independent external investigator found these claims to be without merit. While we cannot comment further due to the pending litigation, we look forward to defending against these allegations.”
Pugh was hired by SMUD to be a procurement specialist as a limited-term employee, essentially probationary status, according to the lawsuit. He has worked for SMUD for more than four years.
Pugh alleged that the manager making SMUD’s hiring decisions added obstacles and requirements to become a full-term employee. Since Pugh was hired, nine workers have become full-term employees; eight of them were white, according to the lawsuit.
“When (the manager) learned that Pugh complained about discrimination, (the manager) retaliated against Pugh by continuing to pass over him and promote white job candidates from LTE to FTE,” Justice argued in the lawsuit.
Pugh said SMUD officials initially offered to share an external investigation report into his discrimination complaint, but then refused to share the report with him. SMUD officials told him the investigation determined his complaint was unfounded. Pugh was later moved into a full-term employee position.
James has worked as a procurement specialist for SMUD since May 6, 2019, when he was hired as a limited-term employee. He said he was more than qualified for a warehouse manager job he applied for in October 2019, but SMUD officials ignored his application and didn’t even offer him an interview, according to the lawsuit. He said the same thing happened again when he applied for a procurement supervisor job in March 2020.
In January 2020, his supervisor ordered him to provide written summaries of his work. He said added duties were unproductive, took time away from his work and was not required of his white coworkers.
Complaints about a hostile employee
Bates-Pettaway has worked for SMUD for nine years as a warehouse coordinator, supervisor and manager, overseeing 30 workers. She told SMUD’s hiring manager that a white man under her supervision, known to have issues with attitude and hostility, routinely treated her with disrespect and was often insubordinate, according to the lawsuit.
Bates-Pettaway alleged that the manager took no action to help her. In June 2019, the manager told her she was placed on administrative leave pending investigation. In September 2019, the manager told her the alleged wrongdoing he uncovered in his investigation meant she could accept a demotion or be fired, according to the lawsuit.
“In an attempt to support his actions, (the manager) sent Bates-Pettaway a scathing and unprofessional memo full of insults and inaccuracies,” Justice said in the lawsuit. “Following Bates’s demotion, SMUD placed a white male in her former position as warehouse manager.”
The civil case is scheduled for a settlement conference hearing Dec. 11, 2023 in court and a civil trial assignment hearing the following month.
This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
