Judge orders reinstatement of fired CPS worker

Trinity County has been ordered to reinstate a former Child Protective Services supervisor and pay her an undetermined amount in back wages she's lost since being demoted and then terminated from county employment nearly three years ago.

Barbara Webb, 59, and currently living in Cottonwood, was placed on administrative leave in February 2007 and demoted from her position overseeing the CPS unit as a Social Worker Supervisor II to a Social Worker Supervisor III in April. Planning to resume work in the reduced position, her employment was terminated in May. She had worked for the county for seven and half years.

Webb's initial claims for damages filed in May, September and November 2007 were rejected by the Trinity County Board of Supervisors and she followed up with a lawsuit filed in Superior Court two years ago that is still pending.

She also appealed her demotion and termination to the State Personnel Board in Sacramento where she recently prevailed in 37 of the county's 46 charges against her.

After an extensive administrative review of Webb's case, the administrative law judge presiding over the state board ordered the county to reduce Webb's termination to a demotion with a six-month suspension.

She was also awarded all back pay with interest and all benefits she's entitled to as a result of the modification of penalties. The unspecified amount is yet to be determined and an additional hearing will be set in the event that the parties are unable to agree on the amount due.

In her suit still pending against the county, Webb claims that her former boss, Director of Health and Human Services Linda Wright, former County Counsel Jeanette Palla, former County Administrative Officer Larry Layton and co-workers Laurie Sumner, Elizabeth Hamilton and Kathy Anthonijsz in CPS and Probation conspired to demote her and ultimately terminate her employment without cause or the progressive discipline required under contract.

Webb alleges that she was terminated in retaliation for reporting and complaining about unfair treatment of clients and of financial improprieties by the county using funds intended for child welfare services to support general fund programs.

She claims she was threatened and harassed by her former boss and others for exercising her right to take family leave when her mother was terminally ill, and was later defamed, libeled and slandered in false statements, damaging her ability to keep and perform her job with the county as well as any future positions with other potential employers.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for lost income, past and future, as well as employment benefits and lost earning capacity. It also seeks punitive damages against the individual defendants along with reimbursement for Webb's legal costs and medical treatment of physical and mental injuries, sickness and distress resulting from the situation.

Webb's representative in the civil suit is Redding attorney Eric Omstead who said his client seeks vindication and is ready, willing and able to come back to work in the reduced position, but the county has not yet responded to the order.

He added she will be petitioning the state board for a rehearing on the remaining nine charges against her that she believes should have been resolved in her favor as well.

The county also has the right to appeal the state board's decision and is evaluating its options. Representing the county in the hearings was attorney Adrianna Guzman from the law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore.

While many of the county's charges against Webb that led to her termination were dismissed by the state board, the board also concluded that some of Webb's actions while employed did constitute grounds for suspension and demotion.

Included in the findings against Webb were insubordination and willful disobedience of the department director; discourteous treatment of other employees including name calling and failing to provide guidance when requested; and neglect of duty for failing to meet annual state reporting requirements or assigning the task to someone else; and for placing an infant in an unlicensed foster home.

Based on those findings, the state board concluded that a six-month suspension and a demotion from a SWS II to a SWS III is a more appropriate penalty than termination.