Former Menifee city manager sued for misconduct in Artesia

By Doug Spoon, Editor

A former Menifee city manager is being sued by a current and former employee of the City of Artesia, claiming that he ignored employee complaints of retaliation, gender discrimination, and election misconduct while he was Artesia’s city manager.

William Rawlings served as city manager in Menifee from January 2011 through November 2012, when Scott Mann and Greg August joined the City Council and Rawlings negotiated a separation agreement. He was replaced by Rob Johnson, who had been serving as a senior manager.

In separate civil suits filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Artesia city clerk Ernesto Sanchez and former human resources director Boyd Horan made the allegations against Rawlings and Artesia City Council members Tony Lima, Monica Manalo and Taj Ali Sajjad. Rawlings left that position in October 2021 following complaints from several employees about poor leadership.

Horan’s lawsuit alleges violation of the labor code, retaliation in violation of the California Government Code, and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” According to court documents, Rawlings (left) prohibited Horan from speaking to City Council members, the city attorney or anyone else about complaints brought to his HR office – including complaints about Rawlings himself.

Following a City Council policy change in November 2020 that allowed employees to take their complaints to the city attorney, Horan spoke to attorney Hong Doa Nguyen regarding concerns many employees had about Rawlings. Despite the complaints, the City Council refused to investigate any of them, court documents state. Instead, through a vote supported by Lima, Manalo and Ali Taj, the policy was reversed.

In September 2021, when Horan went to Mayor Rene Trevino about another matter, Trevino told Horan he would speak to the city attorney about the complaint. A week later, Horan was fired in what he said was retaliation for his complaint.

In his lawsuit, city clerk Sanchez alleges that Rawlings ordered that all communications with electoral candidates go through him, causing unnecessary delays with the application process of two prospective candidates. According to court documents, Rawlings directed Sanchez to be unavailable and/or unresponsive to any candidates that were not Lima or Manalo, who were currently on the council.

In August 2020, Sanchez complained to HR director Horan about Rawlings’ instructions to him. Horan informed Sanchez that policy dictated he take the complaint to Rawlings. Fearing he would be fired, Sanchez withdrew the complaint.

The lawsuit also states that Rawlings stripped Sanchez of his duties and “generally ostracized him.” Allegations also state that Rawlings continued to engage in unlawful misconduct and directed Sanchez and others to do the same.