Employment Litigation

Covers the two lawsuits against the City by its own former employees — the underlying complaints, the verdict, the appeal, and the second suit that followed four months later.

January–June 2023 — Inside the La Palma Police Department, Officer Ross Byer reports discriminatory treatment by his supervisor to department leadership twice (January and February 2023), including an allegation that the supervisor said he “wanted a police organization made up entirely of Korean Americans” and — most seriously — directed officers to target Black drivers for traffic stops. Sworn testimony later establishes: no formal investigation was initiated at any level, the complaint was not documented, and no witnesses were interviewed. Records show the allegations were forwarded to senior city officials. No separate investigation followed. Byer resigns June 1, 2023, and raises the allegations directly with City Human Resources on June 8. Still nothing.

December 9, 2025 — An Orange County jury returns an $8.4 million verdict against the City of La Palma in Byer v. City of La Palma — approximately $3.9 million in past damages and $4.5 million in future damages — finding the City liable for discrimination, retaliation, and failure to prevent discrimination. At trial, the City had argued Byer's emotional distress stemmed from the 2020 death of his daughter, contended damages should be capped at $35,000, and offered $75,000 to settle. The jury's answer was 112 times the City's offer. On the same date, the City Council selects Nitesh Patel as Mayor for 2026.

March 2026 — New City Manager Peter Kim — the former councilmember installed by the sitting majority six months earlier — acknowledges the verdict but declines to discuss details. The conduct at issue occurred under former City Manager McNamara, now running Whittier. The police department is led by an interim chief. The City files an appeal on March 27. Residents formally call for an independent external investigation of the department's complaint-handling practices, writing that the failures “are not speculative — they are established under oath,” and warning the problems may not be isolated. Los Cerritos Community News files a Public Records Act request for complaint and investigation records. The council has made no commitment to an independent investigation.

April 8, 2026 — A second employee lawsuit is filed against the City: Torres v. City of La Palma, Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2026-01561451-CU-OE-NJC. Misty Torres, who ran the City's Tiny Tots preschool program as a Recreation Specialist from May 2018 until February 2025, alleges the City systematically failed to pay her for hours worked. According to the complaint, the City scheduled her for four-hour class blocks while the program's actual workload ran roughly 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; she performed about 15 hours of unpaid work per week, which was “common knowledge and was discussed in staff meetings.” When she told management she couldn't complete the work in her allowed hours, the City's alleged response was to cap her hours at 30 per week in mid-2024 while leaving the workload unchanged, tell her to stop working from home, and threaten that she could be fired if she stayed past her available hours — a structure the complaint says “knowingly forced” her to choose between unpaid off-the-clock work or letting the children's program fail. The complaint further alleges the City repeatedly left her alone with twenty-four preschool-aged children for most or all of the class day in January and February 2025 — including on a day she was sick and vomiting — making legally required meal and rest breaks impossible. She alleges the City had previously submitted a resignation on her behalf without her consent, and when she resigned in February 2025 with two weeks' notice citing the toll on her health, the City ended her employment the next day, before her stated effective date, without paying all wages due. She seeks approximately $180,000-plus in unpaid wages, premiums, liquidated damages, and penalties, before interest and attorneys' fees. And the City's response followed a familiar pattern: when Torres submitted a written claim in September 2025, the City rejected it as “untimely” without addressing the merits, declined her counsel's request to identify any legal authority for its position, and forced her to sue. (These are allegations in a pending complaint; the City has not yet answered.)