Daily Bulletin: Former Fontana Unified police dispatcher awarded more than $315,000

By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 07/06/15 – 7:45 PM PDT |

A jury has awarded a former Fontana Unified School District police dispatcher more than $315,000 after she alleged she was fired for reporting a police officer accused of raping or sexually assaulting other dispatchers.

The jury awarded Jolee Berdnik $315,295 on Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court following a monthlong trial, according to court records posted online and Berdnik’s attorney, Brian Hannemann. The attorney is representing three other current and former employees of Fontana Unified’s police services division in lawsuits claiming former police officer John Garcia sexually assaulted or raped them on school district grounds in 2010 and 2011.

Berdnik did not accuse Garcia of sexually assaulting or harassing her, but claimed in her lawsuit, filed in 2012, that she was let go during her probationary period in retaliation for reporting to her superiors what other dispatchers told her about Garcia’s alleged conduct.

“We are ecstatic that this jury saw through the lies and half-truths of those petty supervisors at school police who thought they could get away with this,” Hannemann said Monday. “Jolee Berdnik did the right thing. We all know it.”

Hannemann said one of the things that still “rankles” him is that the school district never thanked Berdnik for reporting Garcia, which ultimately led to his termination.

Maria Aarvig, the attorney representing the Fontana Unified School District in the litigation, declined to comment on Monday.

Olivier Wong Ah Sun, chief of staff for Fontana Unified Superintendent Leslie Boozer, released the following statement on Monday: “The Fontana Unified School District does not comment upon its personnel decisions but wishes to re-iterate that it is committed to ensuring the quality of its staff and a positive workplace environment for all our employees.”

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