LOS ANGELES – A year after the Engineers & Architects Association, a union representing City of Los Angeles employees, was sued for discrimination, the organization appears to have done little, to nothing, to publicly address claims made by former Director Steven Belhumeur in his wrongful termination lawsuit.
In March of 2019 Belhumeur’s lawsuit alleged his former union employer discriminated against him based on his race. Belhumeur claims he was subject to derogatory comments made against him by Union President, Lisa Barr and was treated differently than his predecessors solely based on his race of African American (black).
A quick search of the union website some noticeable staff changes were made after the ouster of Belhumeur. The rehire of Geoffrey Garfield a black labor representative terminated by Belhumeur and five other employees who are non-black who serve in numerous administrative positions. Of the nine employees listed on their website there appears to be only one who is black and that is Garfield.
Court records show both parties are due back in court for a final status conference in March 2023 before heading to a trial in November 2023.
When reached by phone, Steve Belheumer declined to comment citing the “ongoing investigation”.
Complaint-Belhumeur