LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A structural engineer who in 2025 was awarded $2 million in emotional distress damages from Los Angeles Unified in a lawsuit alleging he was fired in retaliation for coming forward about alleged structural safety problems with district buildings is now seeking nearly $7 million in attorneys’ fees.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury returned its verdict on Dec. 16 in plaintiff Saif Hussain’s long-running lawsuit. In their court papers, LAUSD attorneys argued that all of the district’s actions, including Hussain’s termination as a probationary employee, were taken for “legitimate, non- discriminatory reasons.”
On Thursday, Hussain’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge Ruth Ann Kwan in advance of a May 27 hearing asking for $6.9 million in attorneys’ fees on their client’s behalf.
“After eight years … Saif Hussain prevailed in his complex whistleblower retaliation claim against the Los Angeles Unified School District, litigating this matter through trial,” Hussain’s lawyers state in their court papers. “Hussain’s counsel has litigated this matter entirely on contingency and has incurred substantial risk in pursuit of vindicating Hussain’s rights.”
The Hussain legal team spent more than $370,000 of its own money on the case and “has not received a dime in compensation” for almost 4,000 hours spent litigating the case, Hussain’s attorneys’ pleadings state.
According to his lawsuit, Hussain was hired in July 2016 and was told he would be the “go-to person for seismic, structural engineering projects and issues.”
Hussain, who is of Indian and Pakistani descent, began receiving negative performance reviews after he complained of health and safety issues and revealed himself as a practicing Muslim, according to his court papers.
In August 2016, Hussain reported that two seismic safety programs were stalled, leaving hundreds of ceilings around the district at risk of collapse, the suit stated. He proposed a comprehensive approach to earthquake safety in the wake of his findings, but the three bosses allegedly told him to “shelve his efforts and concentrate on the programs the LAUSD had given him.”
Hussain believed that instead of using bond money to upgrade buildings, the LAUSD “spent billions of dollars on white elephant projects,” according to the suit brought in October 2017.
LAUSD employees in charge of seismic safety “seemed to be unconcerned about the urgency and seriousness of the risk to school children and other occupants,” including teachers and janitors, the suit stated.
After Hussain raised his concerns, he was told to “just follow instructions” and that there was not enough money to pay for improved earthquake safety, the suit alleged. When Hussain repeated his worries, he was told by a department manager, “I know all of the buildings are really bad, but what can we do?”
After Hussain reported the deterioration of a bungalow at Dana Middle School in San Pedro, he was told, “Gosh, you look for trouble. You’re causing a stir,” according to the complaint. A department manager told him that he used words in his report that would “scare people,” and asked the plaintiff, “What happens if parents hear or the press hears?,” the suit alleged.
Hussain says he became open about being a Muslim when he told a department manager that he would be taking a longer lunch break on Fridays to attend prayers at a local mosque. The manager told him that he would now be targeted for his faith and that he should have just said he needed time off for errands, according to his suit.
Another Muslim who took time off to pray during the day was given a “hard time” and the co-worker later refused to worship with Hussain “because he did not want to attract more attention,” the suit alleged.
The lawsuit also alleged that Hussain’s direct supervisor said he should not have revealed his faith, warning him that “they don’t like observant Muslims.”
Since the San Bernardino shootings, “there is the idea any observant Muslim can be radicalized and commit that sort of act,” the supervisor told the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit. However, Judge Lia Martin dismissed Hussain’s discrimination claim in May 2023.
The “San Bernardino shootings” refers to a Dec. 2, 2015 shooting by county health inspector Syed Farook and his Pakistan-born wife, Tashfeen Malik, who opened fire during a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center and killed 14 people in an act reportedly inspired by the Islamic State terrorist organization.
Hussain said he was given negative evaluations in November 2016 and again two months later, in part because he is Muslim. He further alleged that he was later pressured into signing a resignation form in January 2017 and was thwarted when he tried to rescind it. He received an email from human resources stating he did not pass his probationary period and “was told not to return to work,” the suit stated.
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