SANTA ANA, Calif. — Court testimony from a longtime Los Angeles Angels human resources employee revealed that the team allowed Eric Kay to resign, rather than be fired.
Mayra Castro, who has worked in Angels HR since 2012, testified that Kay’s employee file listed his November 2, 2019 termination as “voluntary.” She also testified that voluntary typically means that an employee resigned, but noted she wasn’t specifically familiar with Kay’s departure from the Angels.
Castro was the only witness who took the stand Wednesday in the wrongful death civil case brought by the family of the late pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Angels. The trial was not in session Thursday.
Kay is currently serving 22 years in federal prison for providing the fentanyl-laced pill that Skaggs ingested, leading to his death on July 1, 2019.
It was also revealed through Skaggs family attorney Leah Graham’s questioning of Castro that Kay was placed on a leave of absence July 18, 2019 — when he was first reported to Angels officials — and not suspended. He admitted to a coworker that day that he was in the room with Skaggs the night he died.
That leave of absence turned into a suspension on Oct. 15, 2019, according to Castro, who was reading Kay’s employee file. According to Skaggs attorneys during court proceedings from September, Kay was being paid while on leave from July until his suspension began three months later. His “voluntary termination,” as Castro confirmed, took place about two weeks later.
Graham pressed Castro on whether the Angels followed the policies of their employee manual, as well as alleged inconsistencies in enforcing those policies. Graham also asked about text message evidence that Castro admitted to deleting.
Castro took long pauses to answer certain questions. Graham asked if the Angels’ employee manual “contains rules that are supposed to govern all those employees.”
“I don’t believe that they are rules,” she responded. “I believe that they’re guidelines.”
Graham continued to press Castro on the distinction, wondering if the policies are considered optional, to which Castro said no. “These are policies that we want employees to follow,” she said.
Neither the Skaggs side nor the Angels contended that Castro knew Kay well or worked with him closely. Castro testified that her interactions were mainly limited to internship recruitment, and spell-checking the annual media guide.
However, her importance to Skaggs family attorneys centered on her knowledge of the company’s rules, and how they should be interpreted and enforced. Castro wouldn’t definitively state that being impaired at work, or being asleep at work, would impact an employee’s ability to do their job well.
“I think it would depend,” Castro said, which created a long back-and-forth in which Castro never conceded that impairment at work would definitely impact an employee’s job performance.
A similar back-and-forth occurred as Castro declined to definitively state whether or not being asleep at work would negatively impact an employee’s job performance.
Graham asked Castro about an incident of alleged impairment involving an employee who was not Kay, and the strict and swift action that Angels HR took to investigate and punish that employee.
In that instance, a 63-year-old longtime custodial worker was fired for drinking a White Claw, a hard seltzer, on her break. The worker told HR that her husband packed the drink, and that she was unaware it had alcohol. She also showed no signs of impairment, Castro acknowledged. Castro said the Angels found her story credible, but the decision came from above Castro to fire her.
Skaggs family attorneys wanted to establish that the Angels gave Kay more opportunities because of his higher standing within the organization, and tried to use Castro’s earlier testimony about rules and guidelines to suggest that Angels policy was enforced on a case-by-case basis.
Castro also admitted to deleting several text messages right before her deposition — messages she said she quickly tried to recover. One was a text to a former colleague on the day Kay was charged in 2020. She wrote that Kay gave her “Tweaker vibes.”
A tweaker is slang for someone who recreationally uses stimulant drugs. Castro, however, would not say that she used that term because she believed he was on drugs. Castro said it was more reflective of her belief that Kay had acted “weird.”
Much of the early testimony that Castro gave to Angels attorney Kevin Dorse was focused on her reasoning regarding the deleted text.
Castro said that she did not delete it for the purpose of helping the Angels and their defense in this case. Rather, she said she was concerned about the text coming out at the deposition, and making her look bad to her employer.
“I have a pretty good reputation, I would say,” Castro said. “Something like this could be seen as unprofessional and that worried me. But I also knew right away that it was wrong.”
Dorse also questioned Castro on her job duties, and what she likes about her job. He also went back to the Angels employee handbook.
“As you understand the policy manual, is there anywhere where the Angels condone the use of illegal or illicit drugs in the workplace?” Dorse asked, to which Castro said no. Dorse then questioned Castro on the use of prescription medications and illegal drugs, and why HR would handle those situations differently.
“I don’t think that would be reported,” Castro said of an employee using prescription medication. She later noted that no one from the clubhouse ever reported Skaggs or Kay to HR.
Castro’s testimony ended with Dorse, the Angels attorney, bringing up Kay’s “voluntary termination” — while trying to present it in a different light.
The Skaggs side has tried to show that the Angels continued to give deference to Kay, ignoring his struggles, and never punishing behavior that went against their own rules. Allowing him to resign, they argue, is just another example of that.
Dorse’s questioning at the end was intended to show that Kay was not getting a free pass. He asked if Castro had experience with employees offering their resignation, following a notification of their termination. Essentially, quit or be fired.
“I have had somebody say, ‘No, I’m resigning,’” Castro said, referring to an employee who was not Kay. “‘I want to resign instead.’”