Rose Lee Cardenas v. Fanaian, DDS, Inc.
In August 2009, Rosa Lee Cardenas began working as a dental hygienist for a local dentist in Reedley, CA. According to the Facts of the Case:
“In celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary in 2010, Cardenas‘s husband bought her a new, expensive wedding ring. Cardenas always wore the ring to work, but placed it in the blouse pocket of her scrubs at the start of each workday. On Monday, October 11, 2010, Cardenas wore her wedding ring to work as she always did, but when she left work that day, the ring was missing. She testified that she took the ring off that morning and placed it on the breakroom table with her cell phone and other belongings. Meanwhile, she put her lunch in the office refrigerator and engaged in small talk with a coworker. A few minutes later, when Cardenas collected her belongings from the table, she noticed her wedding ring was not there, but she assumed she must already have put it in the blouse pocket of her scrubs. When she left the office at the end of that day, she realized she did not have her ring. She called coworkers to ask if they had seen the ring, and she returned to the office on more than one occasion to search for it, but did not find it. She also searched the parking lot, her car and home, to no avail.“Cardenas had reason to suspect her ring had been stolen at work by a coworker. She testified that when she informed Dr. Fanaian of her decision to file a police report, he did not support her decision and even asked her not to tell the police that she had left the ring on the breakroom table at work. According to Cardenas, Dr. Fanaian ultimately told her, ―[D]o what you feel like you need to do,‖ but he seemed upset or angry.
“Cardenas and her husband, an officer with the Fresno Police Department, reported the theft of the ring to the Reedley Police Department. Cardenas‘s husband initiated the police report on or about October 21, 2010. On October 24, 2010, Cardenas gave a formal statement to the Reedley Police Department regarding what happened, including her reasons for suspecting that the ring was stolen by a coworker in the workplace. In investigating the matter, police officers came to the dental office and questioned office personnel. Dr. Fanaian was upset that the police had come to the office and he told Cardenas that her husband was ―making the situation worse.
“On November 10, 2010, Dr. Fanaian met with Cardenas and told her that the police had recently been to the office a second time. He told Cardenas that the situation was causing great tension and discomfort among the staff, and that he was going to have to let her go. He gave her her last paycheck and allowed her to collect her family photographs and other belongings from her desk.”
