Despite good reviews, employee gets the ax
Employers don’t need a reason to fire their workers, a judge ruled this week.
Patrick Almanza learned that when he sued his former employer, The Art Institute of Los Angeles, for wrongfully firing him and causing him undue stress.
“Things were really looking up,” Almanza said. “I had just got engaged and I recently had just got another raise at work, I was looking forward to a bright future with The Art Institute.”
But Chris Case-Andersen, the director of community relations for the art school, told the court Monday that Almanza, a computer technician who made $31,000 a year, was an “at-will” employee, which allowed the institution to fire him without cause.
Andersen pointed out that the fine print on Almanza’s 1998 employment application allowed the college to fire him without giving him a reason.
Santa Monica Small Claims Judge Pro Tem Michael B. Moore ruled the law is on the institute’s side. If it classified Almanza as an “at-will” employee, then it can fire him at any time.
“Even if everything was going fine, they are well within their rights to terminate employment without giving notice,” Moore said.
“Even if everything was going fine, they are well within their rights to terminate employment without giving notice.” — — MICHAEL MOORE Judge Pro Tem
Almanza said in the four years he worked at the Santa Monica-based institute he had received multiple raises, two promotions and several good performance reviews.
He said shortly after being hired, his supervisor was let go and Almanza assumed many extra duties to pick up the slack.
“I was never even reprimanded,” he said.
But Andersen painted another picture of Almanza’s work history.
She said while he had been a good employee, Almanza had yelled at his new supervisor with his co-workers present. After he was told to install computer equipment in one of the computer labs, his supervisor had problems with the work. When she confronted him about it, Andersen said he yelled at his boss and told her he didn’t respect her.
The next day, Andersen said Almanza didn’t show up to work. Two days later, the dean suspended Almanza from work without pay while the yelling incident was investigated. When the claims were substantiated by several other employees, Andersen said Almanza was fired for insubordination.
When Almanza tried to file a claim for workers compensation, The Art Institute fought him. The company has to partially pay for any unemployment money Almanza would receive.
“If a worker is fired for unacceptable behavior we pursue the appeals process,” Andersen said.
Although Almanza has won twice in court to receive the compensation, the institute continues to appeal the decisions. Almanza has not been able to find a new computer technician job, and is working for minimum wage to pay his bills.
Judge Moore said he couldn’t help him get his job back or award him any money.
“You have not shown any legal argument under the law proving any action the court can take,” Moore said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 24, 2002. Read the original PDF.