A federal jury awarded a Black woman who formerly worked in code enforcement for the city of Fresno $15 million in damages after finding the city liable for racial discrimination and retaliation last week.
La-Kebbia “Kiki” Wilson’s legal battle began in October 2019, when she and a co-worker, Charles Smith, filed a complaint against Fresno and their former supervisor, Howard Lacy, whom they accused of calling her the N-word and taking adverse employment actions against each of them for complaining about the harassment.
Smith, who is white, was awarded $400,000 by the jury.
Wilson’s rocky relationship with Lacy began soon after she was hired as an inspector in the city’s code enforcement division in 2004, according to her complaint originally filed in Fresno County Superior Court (and obtained by Atlanta Black Star). It was moved to the U.S. District Court in California in 2020.
Lacy, her supervisor, displayed an “obvious disdain for African Americans” by discussing and acting out racial stereotypes, including during a training for “using urban language” during which he donned a paper bag with a bottle in it and told people he was from West Fresno, which had a significant Black population, the lawsuit said.
Wilson claimed she heard Lacy say that code inspectors needed to complete any inspections in West Fresno in the morning because “they would all be asleep” and the employees wouldn’t be “at risk.”
Wilson also claimed that a picture of Barack Obama at her desk was desecrated with monkey ears early on in her employment, GVWire reported.
She filed numerous complaints claiming racial discrimination by Lacy and other co-workers, and settled with the city in 2012. Wilson was among eight city employees in her division laid off in 2013, and was the last to be re-hired, in January 2016, after threatening litigation.
Later in 2016 Smith was hired as a temporary employee on a team surveying blight in vacant buildings. In December he was walking in a hallway with Lacy, his direct supervisor, when a Black woman, whom he later learned was Wilson, passed by and he noticed Lacy give her a negative side-eye.
Lacy then allegedly told Smith to “stay away from her because she’s a no-good piece of sh-t” and that the only reason she got her job back was because she “played the race card.” Smith should “avoid her like the plague,” Lacy allegedly said, if Smith wanted “any chance of being hired full-time.”
Smith did as Lacy told him, he said, and avoided Wilson, whom he didn’t know. He was hired as a full-time probationary employee in April 2018.
In May 2018 Smith and Wilson were among city employees who attended a five-day state-wide training for code enforcement officials. Four days in, Lacy called Smith late one night and accused him of meeting privately with Wilson and told him he “had eyes and ears everywhere” and knew that Smith had been “exchanging nods” with Wilson during the training. Smith said this wasn’t true, but Lacy again told him to stay away from Wilson if he wanted to pass probation and continue his employment.
In June 2018, after Smith and Lacy inspected an African American woman’s property, and got back into their vehicle, Lacy allegedly said, “See, Charlie, I’m not a racist. Kiki wants to say that I’m a racist, but I’m not. I’m super nice. It’s her.” Then he added, “Kiki is an entitled nigga. I’m not saying ni—er. I’m saying nigga— N-I-G-G-A.”
Smith responded, “Howard, can this be over? Just stop it already. I don’t want to hear this crap. I get it, you hate Kiki, but I’m not here for your issue with Kiki,” according to the complaint.
Lacy later attempted to justify his comments by telling Smith that “they don’t even listen to the right kind of music,” and called Black rap artists “idiot rappers,” according to court documents. Smith said he pointed out that Black rap artists made a lot more money than Lacy.
Later in June 2018, Smith learned that Lacy had been sending out letters regarding inspections to residents under Smith’s name for inspections Smith had not conducted, and asked him to stop, as it could be considered fraud. Lacy allegedly told him not to worry about it. Soon after, Lacy stopped speaking with Smith and replying to his emails and texts.
The following month, Smith was transferred to the tire team, a less desirable job completely outside of his skill set, the lawsuit said. Smith complained about the transfer to Tim Burns, Lacy’s supervisor, telling him he considered the move retaliation by Lacy. Burns did not address Smith’s concerns regarding retaliation and told him he would be on the tire team for at least two years if he accepted the transfer.
Smith resigned on July 10, 2018. He called Wilson the next day, and gave her an earful about the racist comments Lacy had previously made about her, including that he had called her “an entitled ni—a.”
Wilson, who was at work, headed to the human resources department to file a complaint. On her way there, she saw a co-worker and raised her voice and said, “They’re all fu—ing liars. All of them.” She made the comment in an open area in the direction of two co-workers who were standing together.
One of them reported to Andrew Cuevas, the city’s personnel manager in code enforcement, that Wilson had directed the profanity at him. Cuevas interviewed Wilson and learned that Wilson had made the outburst shortly after learning that she had been called the racial slur by Lacy. But he decided that the context did not excuse her violation of the city’s professional code of conduct policy and issued her a letter of reprimand in August 2018.
During the 10-day trial, when asked about her use of profanity in that moment by Mandy Jeffcoach, lead attorney for the city, Wilson said, “I was pissed. Do you understand? You wouldn’t. Being a Black woman … knowing what I knew … all of those things, I didn’t think of any rules at the time.”
Later in August 2018, the city hired attorney Dallas Selling to investigate Wilson’s complaint concerning Lacy’s conduct. Selling’s specialty was in family law litigation, and she had no formal training in employment law or conducting investigations into employee misconduct, the lawsuit said.
Selling conducted 12 hours of interviews over the course of a year with various witnesses. During her interview with Lacy, federal judge Kirk E. Sherriff observed that she failed to ask Lacy whether he had used a racial slur to describe Wilson. Instead, she questioned Lacy about his conversation with Smith without mentioning the racial slur, assuming Lacy would correct her if he had used the slur.
Her investigation determined that there were insufficient facts to sustain Wilson’s allegations against Lacy.
At trial, Lacy denied using the slur, and Jeffcoat told jurors that Smith had lied about hearing him say it.
Selling was also asked by the city in 2018 to simultaneously investigate Wilson’s behavior. She found that Wilson was known to be “aggressive, hostile, and disruptive,” and recommended in 2019 that Wilson be fired. After some interference by her union representative and legal wrangling over the next year, Wilson was given a 30-day suspension in September 2020 by the city’s Civil Service Board.
In the meantime, both Wilson and Smith had filed administrative complaints with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and received right-to-sue letters. In their federal lawsuit, they accused the city and Lacy of racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation in violation of state and federal law.
The lawsuit said Wilson had endured “fifteen years of racism waged against her” by the city, which had denied every one of her applications for promotion, consistently telling her she was “not the right fit” while hiring other people with less education and experience.
Wilson was eventually terminated by the city in 2022, although those reasons were not disclosed or made part of the trial.
Smith claimed he was forced to resign after being intimidated by Lacy (who still works for the city) and transferred to a less desirable unit in code enforcement.
Jeffcoach told jurors the city’s actions against Wilson and Smith were justified and not based on race or retaliation.
Plaintiff’s attorney Kevin Schwin asked the jury who they believed more, the plaintiff or Lacy.
After deliberating for more than a day, on March 11, the eight-person jury found the city of Fresno liable for failing to prevent racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against Wilson, and for retaliating against Smith by transferring him to the tire team.
“They’re exposed. They made me seem like I was an angry black woman stereotype,” Wilson said after the verdict. “I’m so glad that the jury saw past that.”
Smith said, “Justice was done,” adding, “I’m going to start a rock ‘n’ roll band, tour the world, rock out.”
“The city went on a campaign of retaliatory character assassination and bullying against Wilson and Smith to sweep this whole thing under the rug,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Kevin Schwin, told reporters.
The attorneys will file a separate motion to recover fees, including the amount invested in the lawsuit by the Fresno City Employees Association — the union representing Wilson and Smith. Schwin did not have an immediate amount, but told GVWire it would be in the seven figures.
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias has urged the city to accept the verdict and issue a formal apology rather than pursuing a costly appeal.
“The conduct described in this case was wrong and reprehensible, and does not reflect the values of our city or the safe, respectful workplace every employee deserves,” Arias said. “Continuing to litigate would be fiscally irresponsible and the wrong decision for a city that prides itself on celebrating and protecting its rich diversity.”
However, the City Attorney’s Office has indicated that the council will discuss potential next steps, including an appeal, in a closed session.
“If this judgment is upheld, there will be tough decisions ahead if we’re going to balance our budget, said Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi. “While I am very sensitive to the allegations, I also have a responsibility to protect the financial well-being of our current public employees who provide vital services to the public.”
