George Gascón critic awarded $1.5 million in workplace retaliation lawsuit
A jury has awarded $1.5 million to a deputy district attorney who claimed she faced retaliation for questioning directives issued by District Attorney George Gascón.
"I am grateful to the jury," said Deputy District Attorney Shawn Randolph. "I'm thrilled. It's wonderful to be vindicated after two years of having gone through this."
Randolph filed the lawsuit in October 2021 and alleged that she was ousted as the head of the office's Juvenile division after raising concerns about Gascón's justice reforms. According to the plaintiff's lawyer Beth Correia, Randolph was transferred to the parole division, which Correia described as a "dead-end career move."
"We are very pleased with the results," said Correia. "The jury saw the case our way and did what was fair and right and awarded Ms. Randolph the damages she deserved."
The district attorney's office expressed their disappointment in the wake of the ruling.
"We are disappointed by the jury's verdict, and stand by our decision to reassign this and other attorneys to new positions within the office," the district attorney's office said in a statement. "As any manager will tell you, moving around personnel in order to improve the level of representation this community receives is absolutely critical to a functioning office."
Randolph's case is the first of almost 20 lawsuits filed by prosecutors alleging similar claims.
