In the wake of a tentative settlement, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Los Angeles Department of Water and Power executive who said she was fired for speaking out about former Board President Cynthia McClain-Hill steering contracts toward a diversity, equity and inclusion firm.
Former Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed McClain-Hill to the board in 2018 and she had served as president since 2020 before stepping down in January 2024 in the wake of ethics complaints. The plaintiff in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit is Leticia Woodard, a former assistant director for supply chain services.
On Friday, Judge Steve Cochran dismissed Woodard’s case because the DWP notified him May 11 that a “conditional” accord was reached in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Monday. No terms were divulged.
In their court papers, DWP attorneys alleged that COO Aram Benyamin identified “significant gaps” in the overall contract administration process as well as in the policies and procedures and related training in support of the DWP’s procurement practices.
Given the lack of progress in addressing such deficiencies, Benyamin did not have confidence in Woodard’s ability to lead and manage the critical operations of supply chain services, according to the DWP lawyers’ pleadings.
But according to Woodard’s suit, Dakota Communications, a company involved in DEI, was disqualified in a 2022 bid proposal for a contract for failing to submit mandatory forms, but McClain-Hill “put pressure to scrap the bid so that Dakota could resubmit a bid.”
Woodard complained to the DWP inspector general that McClain-Hill was allegedly trying to direct contracts toward Dakota Communications and change the scope of work on other contracts and the plaintiff was interviewed as part of a probe by the Office of Special Investigations, the suit stated.
Woodard was hoping for a promotion in March 2023 to interim director of supply chain services and a month before, she attended a meeting with a DWP executive as well as the then-director of the plaintiff’s department, a woman who was sympathetic to Woodard, the executive said. After both women complained to the executive about McClain-Hill and the Dakota Communications contract procurement process, the executive grew angry and abruptly ended the meeting, the suit stated.
The Latina plaintiff also alleged she suffered disparate treatment because of her ethnicity, her gender and because she is more than 40 years old.
Although another DWP executive assured Woodard her job was safe, she was fired on March 14, 2023, after a board meeting, according to the suit filed in July 2024, which further stated that the plaintiff has suffered financial losses and experienced emotional distress since losing her job.