The Huntington Beach city attorney race this fall pits 8-year incumbent Michael Gates against now-retired Scott Field, a former assistant city attorney who accused Gates of age discrimination in a lawsuit.
In 2019, Field and another former employee claimed in a lawsuit that Gates treated them unfairly to edge them out of their positions, intending to replace them with younger employees.
The city council for two years paid outside counsel to prepare to take the case to trial, but eventually voted to settle the lawsuit last year. Gates had insisted the suit was without merit and noted there was no evidence of such discrimination in the plaintiffs’ work history—no reports of complaints to human resources, other employees, or the union protecting against age discrimination….