SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The state Supreme Court turned away an appeal from Tucoemas FCU on a $1.2 million punitive damage award for a former employee claiming workplace discrimination, ending the challenge by the Visalia-based credit union.
A lower court had ordered the credit union to pay $1.9 million in compensatory damages and $1.2 million in punitive damages, but the credit union argued that because a federally chartered credit union is an instrument of the federal government under the FCU Act, it is immune from punitive damages.
The state’s 5th District Court of Appeals upheld the jury’s punitive damage award and called the credit union’s conduct “reprehensible” in its written opinion.
The lower courts had found the credit union liable for actions taken against Kim McGee, a former vice president, who claimed she was demoted and later pressured to quit after she underwent breast cancer treatment. McGee said she was forced to return to work soon after undergoing chemotherapy, despite being weak and sick form the treatment. She was later demoted to manager and had her pay and work hours cut, depriving her of health insurance. She eventually left the job in Nov. 2003.
The courts awarded her a total of $3.1 million from the credit union, including the $1.2 million in punitive damages.
