A former scientist at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has reached a tentative settlement in his lawsuit in which he alleged he was wrongfully fired for a false allegation that he made a comment about alcohol and self-stimulation during a conference.
Luther Beegle, 58, of Sierra Madre also maintained in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that he was the victim of age discrimination and retaliation. On Thursday, Beegle’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge Richard Fruin notifying him of a “conditional” settlement in the case with the expectation that a request for dismissal will be filed by Jan. 20.
No terms were divulged.
“Dr. Beegle was subjected to discrimination and retaliation by JPL due to his age and his complaints regarding JPL’s improper grant and compensation practices and toxic environment,” the suit alleged.
In their court papers, Caltech attorneys denied any wrongdoing on the part of the institution and said Beegle was not entitled to damages.
Beegle was hired at Caltech as a post-doctoral scholar in 1997 and held numerous prestigious positions at JPL over the years, including deputy section manager, in which he supervised 80 to 100 doctoral scientists.
In 2011, Beegle formed a diverse team of researchers with the goal of winning a grant from NASA to construct, deliver and operate one of the seven primary payload instruments on the 2020 Perseverance Mars Rover mission, writing the 250-page grant application primarily by himself, the suit states.
JPL employees, including Beegle, worked around the clock without breaks as well as on sick days, vacations and holidays, the suit filed last Dec. 23 stated.
“It is an `eat what you kill’ operation where employees are committed to work beyond 100% of their capacity to perform,” the suit further alleged.
Beegle contends JPL’s human resources manager, smarting from a disagreement with him over an employee she allegedly wanted to fire, developed a grudge against him. He maintained the bias showed itself when she told him during a phone call after a May 2022 conference that someone had reported the plaintiff said at a bar that if he did not get some alcohol soon he would have to go back to his hotel room and engage in self-stimulation.
Beegle denied making the statement, but the human resources manager fired Beegle during the same call, according to the suit, which further alleged that rather than for any wrongdoing the plaintiff was actually fired as a “victim of JPL’s institutional bias and discrimination.”