The Santa Barbara Unified School District’s former chief educational technology officer is suing the district, alleging disability harassment, a hostile work environment and retaliation.

The former official, Todd Ryckman, is represented by The Myers Law Group of Santa Barbara, which filed the suit June 13 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

The lawsuit states that Ryckman experiences anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and that the district did not accommodate his condition.

The suit also alleges that he was constructively terminated from his job.

“In or around early September of 2020, during a meeting, plaintiff told (Superintendent Hilda) Maldonado that he had been suffering from anxiety as a consequence of work-related factors, and began attempting to explain these factors,” the lawsuit states.

“However, Maldonado interrupted plaintiff while he was speaking, and told him words to the effect of, ‘I don’t want to hear it, everyone has problems.’”

In a statement to Noozhawk, district spokesman Ed Zuchelli acknowledged the legal action.

“The district is reviewing the allegations of the lawsuit, and is not prepared to comment further,” he said.

Ryckman was hired by the district in July 1997 and left Oct. 11, 2021.

The lawsuit states that during a Feb. 2, 2021, Zoom meeting, Maldonado told Ryckman that she would not be renewing his contract for the 2021-2022 school year because “plaintiff is not the type of leader she is looking for.”

At the meeting, Ryckman asked if he could be placed in a teaching position at Dos Pueblos High School for the 2021-2022 school year. That May, Ryckman said, he was offered a teaching job at Santa Barbara High School instead.

He now works as global director of customer success at Ed Tech Innovations.

The lawsuit details several incidents in which Ryckman states that he experienced discrimination.

According to the suit, Ryckman was at work on Oct. 6, 2020, when he began to experience feelings of anxiety, chest pain, dizziness and shortness of breath.

He informed the new director of educational technology services, Brian Rowse, of his symptoms and told Rowse that he would be leaving work early to seek emergency medical treatment.

The suit says Ryckman left work and drove himself to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and “provided medical updates to human resources director John Becchio.”

When he returned to work the next day, he attended a meeting with Maldonado and Becchio.

According to the lawsuit, “In this meeting Maldonado said words to the effect of ‘what is wrong with you?’ Plaintiff responded telling Maldonado that he had gone to the hospital for a panic attack and that he was ‘struggling to manage his disability of anxiety at work.’”

In a separate meeting later that day, the suit states, Becchio told Ryckman that he should go on leave for two weeks.

The suit says Ryckman replied that he was medically released to work and wanted to return.

“Becchio told plaintiff that Maldonado referred to the leave as a reset and that Maldonado had required other employees to go on this type of leave in the past,” the lawsuit states.

“Plaintiff understood from this conversation that going on leave would allow plaintiff to avoid being terminated. Plaintiff used his accrued sick leave to take leave.”

Then, according to the suit, when he returned to work on Oct. 26, Ryckman received a memo with “false claims” that was put in his personnel file.

After several back-and-forth communications, according to the lawsuit, “on or about October 11, 2021, plaintiff’s employment with defendants was constructively terminated.”

Under California law, constructive termination — also known as constructive discharge or constructive dismissal — occurs when an employer intentionally renders an employee’s working conditions so difficult and intolerable that a reasonable person would feel forced to resign.

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial.