Melinda Brantley vs. Zurich American Insurance Company

Case Background

On December 12, 2018, Plaintiff Melinda Brentley filed a Defamation lawsuit in the California State Superior Court of Sacramento County (Case number: 34-2018-00246315-CU-DF-GDS). Judge Jeffrey S. Galvin presided over the case.

Cause

Melinda Brantley began working at Zurich American Insurance Company in July 2005 as a Senior Claims Examiner. She briefly left in December 2011 but returned in December 2012, retaining her seniority. In October 2013, Zurich promoted Brantley to Workers' Compensation Team Manager, where she oversaw a team of 10-12 professionals. Her supervisor, Chris Omen, was the Assistant Vice President of Workers' Compensation at Zurich's Rancho Cordova branch. From around 2013 until his departure, Omen instituted an unofficial reward system known as "Omen Days"—free paid time off (PTO) given to high-performing employees. These days were not recorded in Zurich's official PTO system. Brantley used Omen Days on multiple occasions between 2015 and 2017, always with Omen's explicit approval. This practice was widely known and utilized throughout the Rancho Cordova branch. In October 2017, Omen left Zurich and was replaced by Toneta Snyder. On December 19, 2017, Snyder and HR representative Andrew Atkinson questioned Brantley about her unrecorded absences. She explained the Omen Days system. Despite her explanation, on December 20, 2017, Zurich deducted 60 PTO hours from her accrued balance and terminated her employment v