Napa paying $290,000 to settle workplace discrimination, harassment claim by former employee

The city of Napa earlier this year settled a claim from a former public works department assistant engineer who alleged wrongful termination, harassment and discrimination from other city employees, among other allegations, city documents show.

The settlement agreement, obtained by The Press Democrat, was signed March 23 by the former employee Noor Kohgadai and his attorney, Vanessa C. Deniston of the San Francisco-based Dolan Law Firm, and by city representatives the next day. In the agreement, the city agreed to pay $290,000, including $164,000 to Kohgadai for general damages and $126,000 to the law firm for attorney's fees and costs.

The agreement included no admission of liability on either side, and the city also agreed to provide a signed letter of reference for Kogadai. He also agreed to release his claims against the city.

Kohgadai, who worked for the city from October 2021 through August 2025, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the claim document - received by the city on Jan. 2 and released June 3 in response to a Press Democrat public records request - Kohgadai sought damages for a wide range of alleged violations of the Civil Rights Act, Americans With Disabilities Act and California Fair Employment and Housing Act by coworkers in the city's public works department and its human resources department.

Those alleged violations include: "wrongful termination, workplace harassment, discrimination based on religion, national origin/ethnicity and actual and/or perceived mental disability, retaliation, failure to accommodate actual and/or perceived disability, failure to engage in the good faith interactive process, (and) intentional infliction of emotional distress" among others, according to the document.

The claim says that in 2022 and 2023 Kohgadai was subject to "ongoing verbal and emotional abuse" from another city employee he was required to report to. The other employee's name was redacted in the document released to The Press Democrat.

Kohgadai filed a complaint about the harassment, and a city investigation subsequently sustained findings on Dec. 5, 2023 that the other employee had violated city civil service rules and policies, including the city's anti-harassment policy.

But Kohgadai was required, initially, to continue reporting to that other employee. Two days after the findings, the other employee told Kohgadai - who is Muslim and of Middle Eastern descent - "You look like a devil," according to the claim document. The document says the remark was discriminatory and retaliatory.

When Kohgadai reported his concerns about the remark - to another city employee whose name is redacted in the claim - those concerns were dismissed, the document says. And after making the report, the employee Kohgadai initially reported to "accused Claimant of ‘threatening violence' without any basis," according to the claim. The city subsequently "hired a security detail," which the claim document says further reinforced a discriminatory narrative that Kohgadai posed a threat of violence.

Also after making the report, "claimant faced retaliatory write-ups, a negative performance review, a Performance Improvement Plan, and workplace ostracism from co-workers and managers," the claim document alleges.

In May 2024, an entity or person whose name was redacted in the claim administered a psychological "fitness-for-duty" evaluation and found at first Kohgadai was fit for duty with work-from-home accommodations and posed no risk of violence, the document says. But that decision was reversed in June 2024, after the city involved Shaw HR Consulting in the review, the document adds.

In July 2024, Kohgadai was placed on unpaid family and medical leave and had his work access cut off, after about a month of working fully remote instead of his previous hybrid schedule involving three days of remote work per week, according to his claim. From July 2024 to April 2025 there were long periods of no communication from the city to Kohgadai, the document says, and the city "refused to consider" independent evaluations from other medical providers who found Kohgadai could return to work without restrictions.

The city issued a notice of termination for Kohgadai on Aug. 15, 2025, citing "inability to perform essential functions," and saying no reasonable accommodation existed, according to his claim.

"Claimant believes the termination was pretextual and retaliatory, motivated by his Muslim faith, Middle Eastern background, actual and/or perceived mental health disability and protected complaints," the claim says.

The Napa City Council approved the settlement agreement unanimously, with Councilmember Mary Luros absent, in a closed session meeting Feb. 17, an action reported by interim City Attorney Chris Diaz at the April 21 council meeting. Diaz in his disclosure identified Kohgadai as a "former city employee" and said the settlement agreement was "regarding various employment allegations."

"The city resolved this dispute to avoid litigation in which it could have spent more than the approved settlement amount," Diaz said at the April 21 meeting.

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 6:35 PM.