A former UCLA assistant dean has reached a settlement in her lawsuit alleging the UC Regents fired her in 2019 for getting pregnant and taking maternity leave.
Margaret Purnell's Los Angeles Superior Court complaint alleged pregnancy discrimination, harassment, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation. On Wednesday, her attorneys filed court papers with Judge Joseph Lipner notifying him that the case was resolved, but no terms were divulged.
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In their court papers, UC Regents attorneys argued that Purnell's allegations were baseless and that she lost her job due to her "inability to accept that her unprofessional, abusive, and bullying conduct towards her subordinates necessitated her termination."
But according to Purnell's attorneys' court papers, Assistant Vice Provost Sam Bersola compared caring for an ill child to looking after a sick dog and questioned her need to miss some events that were scheduled close to her delivery date, asking her, "Aren't you worried that your team will find it difficult to cover those events without you?"
Bersola also allegedly questioned Purnell's desire to leave one day near lunch time due to a pregnancy-related illness, then asked her to wait until after a 4 p.m. meeting.
Purnell was hired in 2011 at UC Riverside and spent seven years there before transferring to UCLA as an assistant dean in the graduate division in 2018, according to the suit, which further said that the plaintiff told UCLA management in January 2019 that she was expecting, that her baby was due at the end of May of that year and that her doctors told her she had a high-risk pregnancy.
In March 2019, Purnell's supervisor, aware the plaintiff had a risky pregnancy, assigned her work that required 12 straight days of travel, her suit alleged.
Purnell maintained that when she told her boss during a meeting that she would need a day off after working that many days straight due to her pregnancy and medical condition, he replied that she could ask for it, but it would not necessarily be approved
The supervisor then summoned a human resources representative into the meeting and "began attacking her performance, saying that it was below average..." according to the suit, which alleged the boss also told Purnell she was "rude to staff and made them feel humiliated and intimidated."
Additionally, the supervisor criticized Purnell's management style and told her that she was taking too much time off, the suit alleged. When Purnell repeated that she could not work 12 or more days straight without a break, her supervisor "appeared annoyed and told plaintiff that if he could work that many days straight, so could she," according to the suit.
When Purnell asked her boss if he would approve her taking a day off after working the assigned travel schedule if UCLA's policy allowed for it, he replied, "In light of all the leave you will be taking coming up, I don't think it is wise to be taking so much time off right now," the suit filed in April 2020 stated.
Purnell said she traveled to San Francisco in April 2019 for training and received a notification that she was being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Later that month, Purnell said, she contacted human resources to discuss her maternity leave and was told they could not help her.
Purnell subsequently went on pregnancy disability leave and UCLA offered to let her resign, "indicating that she would otherwise be fired," according to her court papers.
Purnell had her baby on May 31, 2019, and was told by UCLA less than three months later that the university intended to fire her, saying she had bullied her staff, the suit alleged.
Purnell said she challenged the allegations and presented her side during a hearing, but she nonetheless received official notice of her firing in October 2019.
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