A California state appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the former Spanish-language broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers had failed to prove that the team discriminated against him because of his race or age when it decided not to hire him to do the team’s Spanish language television broadcast.
Regarding race, the court found that the plaintiff could not overcome the Lakers’ stated reasons for firing him, which was that the decision was financially motivated. As for the age discrimination claim, the court found that the statute of limitations had expired.
The Lakers hired Fernando Gonzalez as its Spanish language play-by-play radio announcer in 1996, when he was 35-years-old. He was born in Mexico and his native language is Spanish. Until the 2012-2013 season, Gonzalez’s Spanish radio commentary could be heard on television through a technology called secondary audio programming (SAP), and his salary included an additional source of income for providing the SAP service. However, the Lakers ceased providing Spanish language radio commentary for television during the 2012-2013 season, and Gonzalez stopped receiving SAP income.
In 2011, the Lakers contracted with Time Warner Cable Sports to broadcast its games beginning with the 2012-2013 season on two new cable television networks, one in English and another—Time Warner Cable Deportes (Deportes)—in Spanish. The Lakers reserved the right to select the Deportes Spanish language basketball announcers subject to Time Warner approval. In 2011, Gonzalez spoke with his former colleague, Time Warner executive Pablo Urquiza, regarding his interest in a play-by-play commentator position with Deportes. Urquiza, who had worked with Gonzalez for two or three years at KMEX Univision, recommended someone else for the position. Lakers selected Garcia Marquez, who was recommended by Urquiza, as the Deportes play-by-play commentator. Gonzalez, then over age 50, allegedly complained to his supervisor, Tim Harris, that the younger Marquez had been selected because of his age.
Gonzalez also complained to Jeff Proctor, an independent consultant to the Lakers. Proctor allegedly told him he “shouldn’t complain about it” and that he needed to set aside his “Latino pride.” Gonzalez testified that Proctor’s repeated references to “Latino pride” were offensive, even though Gonzalez used the term first with Proctor.
Gonzalez ultimately sued, alleging a violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The Lakers successfully moved for summary judgement, leading to the appeal.
On the age discrimination claim, the appeals court disagreed with the plaintiff’s argument that it was an ongoing violation, which should void the defendant’s argument that the statute of limitations had expired.
As for the argument that the team had discriminated against him based on his race and national origin, the appeals court agreed with the trial court that the Lakers had produced evidence of a legitimate nondiscriminatory business reason for hiring Marquez, and that Gonzalez failed to refute that evidence.
The appeals court reinforced that point in the opinion.
“The record lacks evidence of discriminatory behavior or motive,” it wrote. “When asked at deposition whether anyone in the Lakers organization had made derogatory remarks concerning his age, race, or national origin, Gonzalez answered no. He provided no evidence to discredit the explanation for Marquez’s hiring, or to show that the real reason was intentional discrimination. Given that four of the eight current broadcasters, including Marquez and Gonzalez, are Hispanic, Gonzalez’s failure to rebut Lakers’ evidence of its nondiscriminatory reason for hiring Marquez defeats his claims.”
Fernando Gonzalez v. The Los Angeles Lakers, INC. et al.; Ct. App. Cal., 2d App. Dist., Div. 4; B265823, 2016 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 5858; 8/10/16
Attorneys of Record: Law Offices of Lisa Maki, Lisa Maki, Alex DiBona and Jennifer Ostertag for Plaintiff and Appellant. Littler Mendelson, Michael A. Gregg, Mustafa El-Farra and Thomas J. Whiteside for Defendants and Respondents.
