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  • PEREZ-V-KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS ET AL Print Wrongful Termination Unlimited  document preview
  • PEREZ-V-KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS ET AL Print Wrongful Termination Unlimited  document preview
  • PEREZ-V-KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS ET AL Print Wrongful Termination Unlimited  document preview
  • PEREZ-V-KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS ET AL Print Wrongful Termination Unlimited  document preview
						
                                

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A Michele Ballard Miller (SBN 104198) mbmiller@cozen.com Janine S. Simerly (SBN 102361) jsimerly@cozen. com Ethan Chemin (SBN 273906) ELECTRONICALLY FILED echernin@cozen.com SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO H. Sarah Fan (SBN 328282) SAN BERNARDINO DISTRICT hfan@cozen.com COZEN O'CONNOR 3/6/2024 3:24 PM 401 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 850 DEPUTY OQOONOUU‘l-POON Santa Monica, California 90401 By: Leslie Zepeda, Telephone: 3 1 0.393 .4000 Facsimile: 3 1 0.394.4700 Attorneys for Defendants KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS, KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH PLAN, INC., SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP, and TAWNA BRUUN SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA CONNOR BOULEVARD 90401 COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO CA 850 O’ SUITE MONICA. WILSHIRE COZEN 401 SANTA ESPERANZA PEREZ, Case N0.: CIVDS 1 920836 Plaintiff, [Assigned t0 the Hon. Thomas S. Garza, Dept vs. 827] KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS, a DEFENDANTS’ TRIAL BRIEF California Corporation; KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH PLAN, INC., a Date: March 7, 2024 California Corporation; and SOUTHERN Time: 8:30 am. CALIFORNIA PERMANENTE MEDICAL Place: 827 GROUP, INC., a California Corporation; TAWNA BRUUN, an Individual; and DOES 1 through 50, Inclusive, Action Filed: March 20, 2019 , Trial Date: March 11, 2024 Defendants. 1 DEFENDANTS’ TRIAL BRIEF CASE NO. CIVDSl920836 A I. INTRODUCTION In the pre-dawn hours 0f September 8, 2017, Perioperative Services Manager Tawna Bruun (“Bruun”) found Plaintiff Esperanza Perez (“Perez”) asleep in a patient bay and took a picture: OmmVQO'I-Pwk) When Bruun woke her, Perez told Bruun she was 0n her lunch break. Bruun believed her, but asked Human Resources Consultant Estelle Cordova (“Cordova”) if there was a policy about sleeping in the department. Cordova instructed Bruun to check Perez’s timecard to confirm that Perez had, in CONNOR BOULEVARD 90401 fact, clocked out for lunch as she claimed and, depending 0n her finding, may need to further CA 850 O’ WILSHIRE SUITE MONICA‘ investigate. COZEN SANTA 401 Bruun checked Perez’s timecard and discovered that Perez clocked out for lunch 2 minutes after Bruun took the picture, even though Perez said she was at lunch when she was found asleep. Bruun then interviewed Perez, who again said she was at lunch. But, after Bruun confronted Perez With her timecard, Perez changed her story. Perez said, instead, that she was on her rest break combined with her lunch break because she had been busy. In her position as Mobility Technician, Perez was not allowed t0 combine her rest break with her lunch; only certain nurses were allowed. Even for those nurses Who were permitted t0 combine their meal and rest periods, Defendant Kaiser Foundation Hospitals’ (“KFH”) policy requires that employees clock out before (i.e., at the start 0f) the combined break. Perez did not d0 this. After an investigation, and based on Perez’s conduct and comments, Bruun determined that Perez’s conduct fell under the definition of timecard fraud under Kaiser’s policies and terminated Perez’s employment. Although she never had filed any complaints or voiced any concerns about race playing any role in the termination decision While she was still employed by KFH, Perez now refuses t0 accept 2 DEFENDANTS’ TRIAL BRIEF CASE N0. CIVDS1920836