2025-07-18 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board July 18, 2025 MR. DISHER: Basically, this is a bait and switch—this is an appeal of a decision from Step 1— MR. HALVORSON: Mr. Disher, hold on a second. I—at this point, I have to ask Mr. Hong a question. CHR. CABANAS: Go ahead, Mr. Halvorson. MR. HALVORSON: In the last hearing—yeah, in the last hearing, Mr. Hong, I thought I heard you say that you had or that your client had filed with the—either HCRC or EEOC and he had a right to sue letter. Was I wrong? MR. HONG: No, you’re correct. He filed a claim, and I think that the—he’s still within the 180 days in terms of filing a lawsuit. MR. HALVORSON: And the reason I’m asking that question is, obviously, that has some bearing on jurisdiction—but, in the right to sue letter say that the—or was it HCRC or EOC? MR. HONG: It was both, but it was the Civil Rights Commission that— MR. HALVORSON: Okay. MR. HONG: —sent him this—that had the duty to investigate or did the investigation. MR. HALVORSON: Okay. So, did HCRC dismiss his case on the basis they did not have jurisdiction or did they dismiss the case because it didn’t meet their standards? MR. HONG: I don’t recall—it was just their basic, generic dismissal. I put very little stock in what they say in their basic boiler-plate letter—other than the fact that the time starts running to file the lawsuit. But did they say specifically “jurisdiction”—I don’t recall. I think it was your basic, standard— you didn’t meet the McDonnell Douglas require—they didn’t even say McDonnell Douglas— that’s just my interpretation. MR. DISHER: If I may— MR. HALVORSON: Okay, and then that is— MR. DISHER: —(inaudible) attaches Exhibit L of the County’s response. MR. HALVORSON: And if you don’t recall, I think that’s fair—but I just wanted to clarify that. The next part of my question is when was the—when did the timing start running for the right to sue? Page 12