DEL MAR — An executive at the Del Mar Fairgrounds faced retaliation from leadership after repeatedly raising concerns about alleged illegal conduct, racist remarks and other actions, according to a recent lawsuit.
Melinda Carmichael filed a lawsuit on Sept. 5 against the 22nd District Agricultural Association, the state body that manages the Fairgrounds. Carmichael was hired in 2019 as a staff services manager and human resources director, and was promoted in 2021 to chief administrative officer.
Carmichael stated that, starting in 2022, after repeatedly raising concerns about the conduct of former Human Resources Director Leslie Schutz, she began to face retaliation from Fairgrounds CEO Carlene Moore, including the stripping of job responsibilities and resources, exclusion from meetings and planning, and the eventual revocation of her chief executive administrator appointment.
“Throughout her tenure, Plaintiff repeatedly reported what she believed to be illegal conduct and regulatory violations within the District. Following those reports, the District changed her job duties, restricted her authority, terminated her appointment, and reassigned her under materially different conditions,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit states that several employees began to submit complaints in 2022, accusing Schutz of creating a toxic work environment. One employee said Schutz treated her like a child, exhibited aggressive and dismissive behaviors, and made inappropriate comments about her appearance.
Another employee said in a complaint that Schutz failed to complete termination paperwork in a timely manner as required by law and attempted to withhold employees’ wages by excluding holidays and weekends in her calculations.
Carmichael said she also personally witnessed concerning racist comments by Schutz. The complaint states that in 2022, when speaking with Carmichael about a temporary employee who had filed a complaint, Schutz said, “She is a Black lady” in response to being asked what the complaint was about.
In another situation, Carmichael witnessed Schutz asking for guidance on how to handle a “bad background check” for a new hire, and pointing out that the man was Black. In both cases, Carmichael said the person’s race was irrelevant to the situation.
“Plaintiff understood these comments to demonstrate Schutz’s bias against people of color,” the complaint states.
While Carmichael was initially appointed by Moore to lead the investigation into Schutz, she was later removed from the investigation, the complaint said.
In July 2022, when Moore ordered the immediate termination of all temporary fair staff, Carmichael said she advised that they were required under law to provide separation notices. She was met with hostility and statements from Moore, who told her to “stop worrying about HR,” she said.
The Service Employees International Union also sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Fairgrounds regarding Schutz’s alleged treatment of staff, the lawsuit states. Carmichael responded to the letter as Moore was on vacation at the time. When Moore returned, she reprimanded Carmichael and removed her “authority as an executive officer overseeing HR functions,” the complaint said.
In the fall of 2022, Carmichael sent two additional memos to Moore outlining her and other employees’ concerns regarding Schutz, including that she failed to respond to leave requests within the required time frame, miscalculated leave time, and withheld benefit pay.
Carmichael said that in response, Moore took no action to correct the situation. Instead, over the next year and a half, Carmichael was gradually stripped of her authority within the organization.
This included removing Carmichael from board and staff meeting presentations, excluding her from executive meetings and activities, sending her to an unnecessary conference at a critical business time, assigning her work responsibilities to her peers, and removing her from her controller position for the RaceTrack Authority.
At one point in 2023, it was also reported to Moore that Schutz had filed fraudulent expense reports while on vacation time, including classifying out-of-state travel as work-related. Moore dismissed these concerns and approved the expense reports from Schutz, according to the lawsuit.
The district also repeatedly failed to hire the staff that Carmichael needed to perform her job duties, including a facilities director, and excluded her from other hiring decisions for departments that she was responsible for overseeing.
During this time, she repeatedly raised concerns to Moore about her treatment but was disregarded, she said.
“Moore … accused Plaintiff of lacking ‘discernment’ and framed Plaintiff’s protected disclosures as evidence of poor judgment,” the suit states.
In May 2024, Carmichael told Moore she could no longer endure these working conditions and asked if their professional relationship could be repaired. Moore then said to her that their relationship “wasn’t working,” and they agreed that Carmichael would stay until her five-year mark in November 2024.
However, Moore later informed Carmichael that her position would be terminated on Oct. 30, one day shy of her five-year mark, therefore depriving her of reinstatement benefits. After Carmichael informed the Fairgrounds Board of Directors, Moore later retroactively changed her termination date to Oct. 31, the suit states.
Following her termination, Carmichael exercised her statutory right to return to her position as a staff services manager. She continued to face poor treatment after this, she said, as she was reassigned to a position with non-standard work hours that included weekends and was substantially different from her original position.
She began to have physical reactions to anxiety and stress from the situation, including depression, insomnia, stomach issues, and headaches. She became unable to work and has been largely on disability leave since October 2024.
In November 2024, Carmichael filed a workers’ compensation claim citing health concerns related to workplace stress, as well as a whistleblower complaint with the state auditor. She also filed a complaint with the state Civil Rights Department in June of this year.
Tristan Hallman, the spokesperson for the 22nd DAA, said they have not yet been served with the lawsuit, and confirmed that Carmichael remains employed by the organization.
“The 22nd DAA disputes the allegations made in this complaint and will be prepared to defend against them in court. The 22nd DAA does not comment on pending litigation,” Hallman said. “The 22nd DAA values integrity and respect and remains committed to providing an inclusive, welcoming, and responsible workplace for all employees.”
The Coast News has reached out to Schutz for comment. She is no longer employed by the 22nd DAA.
Carmichael was also deposed as part of a now-resolved 2021 lawsuit regarding the Fairgrounds, which alleged fraudulent changes to applicants’ scores during a bid process for the fair midway.
In that lawsuit, Carmichael admitted in a deposition to changing scores of midway applicants after speaking with Moore, while serving as an evaluator of the requests for proposals in 2021.
In her deposition for that case, Carmichael confirmed that she was promoted to the chief executive administrator role the same year as the evaluation process, receiving an approximately 10% pay increase to earn a salary of around $130,000.
Carmichael’s retaliation lawsuit makes no mention of the midway bid-rigging controversy or her involvement in the evaluation process.
