Director of California's Civil Rights Agency Resigned

On October 3, 2014 Gov. Jerry Brown announced appointment of an interim director of California’s Civil Rights Agency after accepting Phyllis Cheng's resignation.

Phyllis W. Cheng was Director of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). She was appointed in January 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was retained by Governor Brown. 
 
The announcement of Ms. Cheng's Resignation and appointment of an interim Director came on October 3. On October 6, 2014 Ms. Cheng announced to join a law firm DLA Piper in Los Angeles. 

The rumors of her resignation circulated for a while.

Phyllis Cheng should resign immediately Issues were brought to her attention on many occasions she stubbornly persisted with bad leadership
— Civil Rights Workers (@DFEHInsider) December 18, 2013

Why hasn't Phyllis Cheng responded to Senate Oversight report? http://t.co/ldjEfgpf7e
— Not DFEH (@CAcivilrights) March 13, 2014

Doctor's Plea to the Civil Rights Agency
 On Dec 10, 2013, California’s Civil Rights agency (aka Department of Fair Employment and House (DFEH) held a Council meeting at the State Capitol. In that meeting, DFEH Council issued a Civil Rights award to Gov. Jerry Brown. Dr. Sheikh again requested the Civil Rights Agency  to restore her Civil Rights such as Right to work.  

Dr. Sheikh completed her medical residency but she could not practice Medicine as California Medical Board would not issue her the license. The laws mandate that a qualified doctor cannot practice his/her profession without a license. 

The County Hospital also took Dr. Sheikh's home by police force and yet filed a second lawsuit to take possession of the same home. 

Dr. Sheikh followed up with Ms. Cheng during her visit to San Joaquin County. 

Laws for Dogs

Ms. Cheng and her Civil Rights Agency extensively explored different sets of laws applicable to service dogs demonstrating their passion for Dogs. She authored a comprehensive study on various laws relevant to Dogs that was well advertised. Such research was conducted because;

“The inconsistency can trap unwary travelers, business, airports and airlines."

Here is a complete chart that was prepared on Laws for Dogs.
Laws for Doctors 

When Ms. Cheng announced her detailed study “clearing up the laws for service animals”, on social media there was a mixed response from legal professionals. Mr. Sheikh wrote,

“This is laudable that the Civil Rights Agency has taken this initiative. Though the article explains only Laws relevant to Service dogs etc., the important point is that the agency got to start somewhere.

I have been seeking clarification on “Laws relevant to Physicians and Medical Board of California” for a few years. I hope that California’s Civil Rights Agency may consider looking into those laws (or clarifying). I’ll be pleased to assist”. “Modern Era of Discipline of Physicians”

 A first generation immigrant

By her own account, Cheng was born on a midwife’s kitchen table in Hong Kong during a typhoon that just so happened to take place on the Fourth of July. Cheng quips;

“You can say I was meant to be a Yankee Doodle Dandy”

Following the auspicious timing of her entry into the world, 10 years later, Cheng left Hong Kong with her mother, who had fled from Communist rule in China. The two immigrated to the United States during the Kennedy administration.

“This country was really different in those days, and even though there were some civil rights laws, they were really just formulating. We encountered pretty much every type of discrimination typical of that time in employment, housing and education,” Cheng explains. “I think I was the only Asian in my class and maybe one of two in the entire elementary school.”

Successful Lawsuit v Law School Admission Council

Ms. Cheng successfully settled a lawsuit against LSAC.

A multimillion-dollar settlement levels the playing field for individuals with disabilities in law school admissions and provides for compensation to victims of discrimination and changes in LSAC’s policies or practices.
  
On May 29, 2014, United States District Court Judge Edward M. Chen entered a Permanent Injunction forever banning LSAC from annotating or "flagging" the LSAT scores of test takers who took the examination with the accommodation of additional test time. In the past, LSAC had reported the scores of those test takers and identified that the test taker was an individual with a disability, that the test had been taken under non standard conditions and that the test scores had to be viewed with great sensitivity. In addition the Judge today gave court approval to the 61-page Consent Decree with extensive provisions and revisions to LSAC's practices regarding testing accommodations and which provides for $8.73 million in monetary relief.

The success of the lawsuit could provide a level playing filed for individuals with disabilities to apply for law school admission.

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Suggested Reading

California conferred a Civil Rights Award to Gov Brown amid Civil Rights Violations 

Resignations from California Medical Board 

San Joaquin County Leadership Exhodus viewed as 'cyclical' 

San Joaquin County Hospital filed second lawsuit on Dr. Sheikh 

Human Rights Attorney urges the President 

update

Civil Rights Agency 'ignored' Doctors focused on Dogs

@Cal_Lawyer California Civil Rights Agency 'ignored' Doctors but cared for #dogs #DFEH #EEOC #HealthCare #CA #MedEd http://t.co/1g10MVqt2z
— Goofy Barks For MD's (@GoofyBarksFor) November 13, 2014

San Joaquin County Leadership exodus viewed as 'cyclical'

Changes at the top in the County

By Zachary K. Johnson, Record Staff Writer - Posted Sep. 28, 2014

Many in top positions in San Joaquin County either have retired recently or plan to retire soon. Here's a list of some, including the year in which they were hired.

Planning to retire:

County Counsel David Wooten, 1985

District Attorney James Willett*, 1980

Environmental Health Director Donna Heran, 1979

Health Care Services Director Ken Cohen, 2003

Human Services Director Joe Chelli, 1981

Public Health Services Director Bill Mitchell, 1989

Public Works Director Tom Gau, 1984

New hires replacing retirees since the start of 2013:

Agricultural Commissioner Tim Pelican for Scott Hudson

Auditor-Controller Jay Wilverding** for Adrian Van Houten

Child Support Services Director Lori Cruz for Judith Grimes

Clerk of the Board Mimi Duzenski for Lois Sahyoun

County Administrator Monica Nino for Manuel Lopez

General Services Director Rob Lim for Gabe Karam

Human Resources Director Ted Cwiek  for Cindy Clays

Public Health Officer Alvaro Garza for Karen Furst

Purchasing and Support Services Director Jon Drake for David Louis

Veterans Services Officer Virginia Wimmer for Ron Green

 

STOCKTON — By the end of the year, San Joaquin County government will see the departure of top managers leading the bulk of the county’s operations, including the directors of health, human services and public works. Added to other retirements from key positions over the past year, most county departments will see leadership changes, soon, if they haven’t already. Officials said it is a long-awaited shift that has been expected as county leadership reached retirement age.

“It’s been a bit of a rush, but I wouldn’t say it’s unexpected,” Human Resources Director Ted Cwiek said.

It is a trend that is playing out nationally, with the a crush of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age, though it has appeared it had been temporarily delayed as some people waited out the economic uncertainty of the last recession. And in San Joaquin County, some managers put off retirement plans to help their divisions of the government better handle cuts to services weathered to the recession’s impact on the county budget, he said. 

But recruitment has drawn impressive pools of candidates to choose from to find strong replacements, County Administrator Monica Nino said. The county has recently hired a new agricultural commissioner and veterans services officer as well as directors of general services, purchasing, human resources and child support services.

The county is also shoring up its succession plans, and has added assistant director positions in two departments, so far, she said. 

The departing managers will take with them much historical knowledge of their departments, she said. “I feel very fortunate to have been able to work with them, even though it’s been at the end of their careers.” But it’s also exciting to work with the Board of Supervisors to assemble a new team, she said. And it opens up options to make other changes, too.

Most of the people retiring came to work for the county in the 1980s. It was 1979 when soon-to-retire Environmental Health Director Donna Heran started working for the public agency that would later be absorbed by the county.

Manuel Lopez, who retired as county administrator last year, said this exodus of department heads reaching retirement age was expected. There was a similar demographic shift when he took the post about a decade ago, he said. “It is cyclical. People do leave when it makes economic sense for them.”

And it is not just hired staff members leaving. Some of the elected officials are changing, too. District Attorney Jim Willett didn’t run for another term and is retiring. And supervisors Larry Ruhstaller and Ken Vogel are terming out and won’t be back next year.

 “It’s a changing of the guard,” Vogel said.

Other retirements expected this year are: County Counsel David Wooten, Environmental Health Director Donna Heran, Public Works Director Tom Gau and Human Services Director Joe Chelli.

So is Ken Cohen, director of Health Care Services, an agency that is seeing a lot of change. It includes Public Health Services, which earlier this year added Public Health Officer Alvaro Garza to replace the retiring Karen Furst.

And Public Health Services Director Bill Mitchell plans to retire after 40 years in government and 25 years with the county at the end of November. 

Cohen describes Mitchell as somebody who brought passion and commitment along with his decades of experience in public health. He praised Mitchell’s management during recession cuts that saw public health staff cut by about 40 percent. And Cohen said Mitchell has been able to keep the county on the “cutting edge” of promoting community health, too.

When regional transportation officials adopted a long-term plan to spend billions of transportation dollars earlier this year, it reflected ideas that the health of a community besieged by chronic ailments like asthma, obesity and diabetes could improve if it grows in a way that promotes walking and biking and limits air pollution from cars. It was prompted by state law to reduce greenhouse gases, but the county’s version included the creation of a working group where public health would have a say in how the plan will be implemented. 

Mitchell has seen other milestones in public health at the county, like an increased role for public health agencies in emergency preparedness and response that followed the Sept. 11 attacks and led to the opening last year of a new lab in Stockton meant to provide rapid testing of suspected virulent disease or bioterrorism for the eight-county region.

The 62-year-old said there were a number of factors in his deciding to retire, including economic. He said he plans to “drop out for a while” and was looking forward to do more cycling and watching more baseball.

He said he’ll be leaving behind a strong team at public health. “I really do have confidence that the department will do well and move forward.”

Link to the original article
Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/johnsonblog and on Twitter @zacharykjohnson.

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