Johnson v. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Filed 6/29/06 Johnson v. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory CA1/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

Kevin Johnson appeals from dismissal of his complaint alleging race discrimination against his employer, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California (LBNL).^[1] He contends summary judgment was improper because he raised a material issue of fact that he suffered an adverse employment action when, for pretextual reasons, he received merely a satisfactory, as opposed to a more favorable, rating on his annual performance evaluation. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The plaintiff is African-American. In December 1999 he was hired as a firefighter by LBNL, on the recommendation of Fire Chief Stacy Cox.^[2] Plaintiff's 2000/2001 annual performance evaluation that he claims was discriminatory was initially done by Chief Cox, shortly before Cox's retirement.^[3] Cox gave plaintiff an overall rating of â€