U, employee finalize lawsuit settlement in firing bias case

A lawsuit filed by a black woman and longtime University employee accusing Penn of discrimination after she was fired in 1996 ended last week when the two sides finalized a settlement. The University did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement, which allowed Sylvia Canada -- who had worked at Penn since 1970, first as a secretary and then in various positions in the Division of Public Safety -- to become an administrative assistant for the division. In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in July 1996, Canada alleged that she was fired in February 1996 from her position as a staff assistant because of her race. Canada, 48, also accused Penn of ignoring her application for the position of director of Victim Support and Special Services, among other jobs. The University denied all of the allegations against it in its response to the complaint, and said she was not qualified for the other positions which were available when she was laid off. Both sides said they were "satisfied" with the arrangement. Canada said yesterday that "we can both live with" the agreement. And University General Counsel Shelley Green stressed that Penn did not admit liability in the settlement. "We're happy we were able to resolve the matter," she said. "Everyone is quite satisfied." According to court documents, the two sides worked out a tentative settlement in January 1997 in which Canada was hired as administrative assistant to Director of Special Services Susan Hawkins. Canada returned to work in that position on January 6, 1997 after an 11-month absence. She has been there ever since. Although the two sides were originally supposed to finalize the agreement six months later, both parties agreed to extend the timetable several times until last week when they decided to make the settlement permanent. Canada first came to the University as a secretary in the Mathematics Department, where she worked for seven years. In 1978, she graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy and was appointed to the University Police force. According to the original complaint, Canada was involved in an incident in 1981 in which a fellow officer refused to back her up at the scene of a crime. The officer, Dan Forsyth, then allegedly assaulted Canada. Forsyth was dismissed because of the attack, but the complaint alleged that the incident "engendered serious dislike for Ms. Canada among many white male police officers," including Lt. Joseph Weaver, who became Canada's supervisor in 1993. The lawsuit also named as co-defendants Weaver and Managing Director of Public Safety Thomas Seamon. After Weaver became Canada's superior, the complaint says, her responsibilities were "seriously diminished," and Weaver ignored her requests for additional assignments. In February 1996, Seamon told her she was being laid off because of an organizational restructuring. The suit said this was simply a pretense to get rid of her.

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