CalEPA settles Black scientist’s harassment lawsuit for $500,000. Manager keeps job

The California Environmental Protection Agency paid $500,000 this year to settle a lawsuit from a Black scientist who said her boss harassed and threatened her based on her race and religion.

Loretta Sylve sued the agency in April 2019, saying she had to accept a demotion to escape the mental anguish of working under manager John Paine.

Sylve said in her lawsuit that Paine pounded his fist on tables, yelled at her to shut up and told her things like, “I will hurt you,” “your god will not protect you” and worse. The harassment came to a head in April 2017, when Paine blocked a doorway as Sylve tried to leave her office and made demeaning comments about the color of her skin, according to the lawsuit.

The agency reached the settlement agreement with Sylve in February, according to the agreement. The agency didn’t admit any wrongdoing as part of the agreement.

Paine still works for CalEPA, agency spokeswoman Erin Curtis said in an email. He’s listed on the agency’s website as the environmental program manager, the same job title he had when he allegedly harassed Sylve. The Sacramento Bee’s state worker pay database shows he made about $156,000 last year.

Paine didn’t respond to a voicemail or an email Tuesday.

Curtis declined to say whether Paine had been disciplined.

“CalEPA takes incidents and allegations like this very seriously,” she said in the email. “We do not tolerate unlawful harassment of our employees.”

After he blocked Sylve’s office door in April 2017, Paine was placed on leave for three months, according to her lawsuit. There was no corresponding reduction in his 2017 pay, according to state pay records.

Before Paine returned to work in July 2017, Sylve went on stress leave. She asked CalEPA to accommodate a request to avoid Paine at work, but the agency refused, according to the lawsuit.

The agency told her she could return to work with no accommodations or leave state service. She refused to accept those options. Eventually she was offered a supervising environmental scientist position with EPA’s Department of Toxic Substances Control, which amounted to a demotion, according to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Paine’s salary increased by about $11,000 from 2017 to 2018, pay records show.

As part of the settlement agreement, the agency helped move Sylve into a senior environmental scientist position that was acceptable to both her and the agency. Sylve’s attorney, Zane Hilton of Bohm Law Group, said the state has paid the money and moved Sylve into the new position.

Hilton said he was “pleased that the state decided to step up to correct this injustice.”

This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.