Job Promotions

Your boss criticizes you, assigns you scut work and never shares the inside tips that might help you get ahead faster. It's obvious that your boss probably doesn't like you, but what she may not be admitting--even to herself--is the real reason she is making your life so difficult.

The company behind the Improv comedy club chain has sued its Internet marketing promoter, accusing him of using the Improv brand's "good will" to promote his own company and a planned chain of competing clubs. Improv West Associates alleges in the lawsuit that Robert Hartmann used his job as Improv's marketing officer to promote "independent businesses he was building on the back of the Improv brand. " Those businesses include a planned chain of comedy clubs called Levity Live, the lawsuit alleged.

Less than a week after taking over the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Charlie Beck announced a shake-up in the department's command staff, including the demotion of two of the LAPD's highest-ranking officials and promotion of several others. Beck, who was confirmed as chief by the City Council last Tuesday, promoted Deputy Chief Michel Moore to become one of the LAPD's three assistant chiefs and assigned him to a newly created post in charge of Special Services, according to an announcement released Monday.

WASHINGTON — With the U.S. unemployment rate stubbornly above 9%, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke unveiled an initiative Wednesday to encourage U.S. and foreign companies to create more jobs in the United States. Building on previous U.S. government efforts to attract foreign investment, the SelectUSA initiative will help U.S. states deal with federal regulations that may discourage an overseas company from investing in the United States or prompt a U.S. firm to look abroad, senior Commerce Department officials said.

Invoking the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the U.S. Justice Department has sued the city of Alhambra and its Police and Fire departments, charging employment discrimination against minorities. The suit was filed after the city declined a Justice Department recommendation to revamp its personnel practices, City Manager Kevin Murphy said. The changes would have expanded city recruitment, hiring and promotion of blacks, Latinos and Asians.

The Beverly Hills Police Department has been restructured as the result of the retirements of three of its senior members and the promotion of seven others, Chief Marvin D. Iannone said. Capt. Russell Olson and Lts. David Griffey and James Smith retired at the end of December. All three are 55 years old and together served more than 90 years on the force, Iannone said. "We're losing a great deal of experience here," Iannone said.

Following a similar finding last month for Latino officers, California fair employment officials accused the Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday of discriminating against black police officers in the way that they are promoted, granted raises and moved up to coveted job assignments.

A state agency has accused Los Angeles County of denying a promotion to a veteran Latino employee because he had complained about discrimination in the Parks Department. In a civil rights complaint filed last week, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing accused the county Parks and Recreation Department of "discriminatory retaliation" against employee William De La Garza "because he opposed practices forbidden by the Fair Employment and Housing Act."

Struggling to retain enough officers to lead its forces, the Army has begun to dramatically increase the number of soldiers it promotes, raising fears within the service that wartime strains are diluting the quality of the officer corps. Last year, the Army promoted 97% of all eligible captains to the rank of major, Pentagon data show. That was up from a historical average of 70% to 80%.

WASHINGTON, D.C. * Overturning a 1995 decision, the Navy has promoted a highly decorated aviator whose career was grounded by the Tailhook sex scandal. Cmdr. Robert E. Stumpf, who once commanded the Blue Angels precision flying team, has been promoted retroactively to captain and will be given back pay to July 1995, officials said. Now a Federal Express pilot living in Florida, Stumpf retired in late 1996, saying he was tired of fighting for the promotion.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named his next, and potentially last, finance director Monday, filling a post that is crucial to shaping California's deficit-plagued budget during the governor's final year in office. Ana Matosantos, currently in the finance department's No. 2 position, will take the reins as Schwarzenegger's chief budget writer Dec. 31, with California facing an estimated $20.7-billion deficit through June 2011. That yawning gap, combined with Schwarzenegger's lame-duck status, makes the job less appealing than in more flush times.

Less than a week after taking over the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Charlie Beck announced a shake-up in the department's command staff, including the demotion of two of the LAPD's highest-ranking officials and promotion of several others. Beck, who was confirmed as chief by the City Council last Tuesday, promoted Deputy Chief Michel Moore to become one of the LAPD's three assistant chiefs and assigned him to a newly created post in charge of Special Services, according to an announcement released Monday.

Pope Benedict XVI was forced to cancel the promotion of a conservative Austrian priest whose appointment had polarized the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican said the pope had waived Father Gerhard Maria Wagner from his obligation under church law to accept the promotion to auxiliary bishop of Linz, effectively revoking the appointment. Critics have attacked Wagner for numerous comments, including one that Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was God's way of punishing the city of New Orleans for its sins.

As Helen Jo worked her way to the front of the room to receive her new badge last week, a stream of colleagues, family and friends crowded and cheered around the freshly promoted deputy chief -- the first woman and the first Asian American to achieve such a rank in the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Jo, who assumed her new position in April, joined the Fire Department in 1998 as a budget officer and became chief of the financial management division in 2002.

Irvine officials have tapped Michael Ellzey, a recently hired deputy executive, to be promoted to top administrator of the Orange County Great Park. Ellzey was promoted Thursday during a closed-door meeting of an executive search committee. The decision has yet to be approved by the park's governing board.

Seeking to spread the workload after the abrupt departure of two top assistants, acting Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson on Tuesday temporarily elevated a captain and a civilian to his command staff. Capt. John B. Davis, who was overseeing the department's Central Jail Complex, will be in charge of investigations, filling the vacancy left when Assistant Sheriff Steve Bishop retired last week.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief John Englund has ordered the promotion of a veteran black fire captain who filed suit in Los Angeles federal court, charging that he had been a victim of discrimination because of his race, it was learned Thursday. The promotion of Capt. Hershel Clady to battalion chief will be effective July 15, according to Assistant Fire Chief David Hanson, head of administrative services. Clady was notified Wednesday, two days after he filed suit.

Seven years after the first woman joined the Los Angeles Fire Department, Roxanne V. Bercik is to take charge of a Los Angeles fire station today as the first female in the department's history to reach the rank of captain. Bercik, 31, a firefighter since 1984, was among the first women to make it through the department's rigorous physical ability tests, the traditional stumbling block for women.

Rich Gonzalez has everything he needs to fulfill his dream of becoming a major league umpire. He has the skills, the character, the intelligence, the passion. "It's what I want to do with my life," he says. What he may never get, however, is the opportunity. That's because the big league umpire roster has only slightly more turnover than the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, between 2004 and last season the Supreme Court actually got more new justices (two) than baseball did new umpires (one).

Vice President Dick Cheney blocked the promotion of a Justice Department official who had raised questions about the legality of a secret administration surveillance plan during an unusual standoff with the White House in 2004, Senate investigators were told Wednesday.