Stanford Linear Accelerator Center victorious in lawsuit brought by former employee

A jury in federal District Court in San Jose awarded the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) a complete and unanimous victory in a case brought by a former SLAC employee for retaliation. After a three-week trial and only two hours of deliberation, on Friday, Feb. 25, 2005, the eight-person jury found that SLAC had done nothing wrong when it terminated plaintiff Edward Norwood.

Norwood is the former traffic manager of the Purchasing Department at SLAC. He was terminated on March 19, 2002, for refusing to perform his duties and insubordinate conduct. Subsequent to his termination, he filed suit in federal District Court against SLAC and Lee Lyon, SLAC's director of human resources, alleging that he had been subjected to race and disability discrimination and emotional distress and that he was terminated in retaliation for his filing of a complaint of discrimination with the Department of Fair Employment & Housing (DFEH). After reviewing the matter, the DFEH had found no cause to believe that Norwood had suffered discrimination. Despite this finding, Norwood filed suit against SLAC. Prior to trial, the Court had dismissed Mr. Norwood's claims for race and disability discrimination as being without merit.

On Friday, after the three-week trial, the jury ruled in favor of SLAC and Lyon on all remaining claims, finding that SLAC had not retaliated against Norwood for filing a discrimination complaint and had not caused him emotional distress, but rather had acted appropriately in firing Norwood for his persistent refusal to perform his job and his insubordination toward management.

"While it is never easy to terminate an employee, there are times when it is warranted," Lyon said. "We are pleased the jury unanimously agreed that this was one of them."

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