The newspaper articles do not mention it, but just resigning will not end the employees potential grief with this. The person is in fact potentially liable criminally in several ways. He used confidential state information for his own private purposes, and since this is on a computer, it makes it a felony here in the state. Un authorized disclosure of confidential information such as her gender change, again from the computer et al. Harrassment under color of authority fits as well. The investigation will continue even with his voluntary separation from state service, and at the very least, the person will NEVER be able to hold employment with another government agency of any sort. This will happen without any further action on Amber's part. Her contact with the DMV complaint process put all of that in motion. This person who sent her the letter was way outside the scope of his employment. The DMV and other California agencies are bound by laws that protect citizens from this outrageous behavior. A rogue is a rogue.
Her lawsuit is part of a normal progression of events when this type of thing happens. The report says she filed a claim for damages which was denied. The denial in fact put her in a better situation, and the person who denied the claim knew it would happen that way. Had the claim been allowed, she would have been limited in what she could recover. Now a jury can have a chance to better assess her damage than the department, or even the AG's office could have allowed her to recover from discretionary damage settlement funds that they have.
I am employed as a supervisor by another California State agency, and know what is in store for both sides of this battle. We supervisors are regularly reminded of the laws on these subjects, and are held to high standards. Even the supervisor of this employee could be finding themselves with disciplineary actions in the future if it was found that they fostered or encouraged this persons behavior. I recently came out myself, and the one employee who became "threatened and harrassed" by my coming out (I had showed the picture I use in my avatar to the group I supervised) ended up themself with a "Corrective Interview and a derogatory letter placed in their file. (I was actually laughing to myself about it since this person thought they would be a candidate for my job if I were fired for harrassing them! Not a chance!!)
