Bay Area Employment Law Blog
Workers’ compensation discrimination not “wrongful termination,” court rules
An esoteric distinction, but a firm one nonetheless. In Dutra v. Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta, an employee sued the hospital where she worked for defamation and wrongful termination in violation of California public policy. The employee, who worked as a...
And the official “golden rule” of summary judgment is…
...never forget to file a separate statement of facts! That's the lesson from Batarse v. Service Employees International Union Local 1000, in which an appellate court upheld dismissal of a discrimination and retaliation case because the employee forgot to include a...
Fired “Desperate Housewife” Loses Claim on Technicality
Nicollette Sheridan, who played the man-eating Edie Britt on Desperate Housewives, recently lost the wrongful termination case she filed after being let go from the hit television show. At issue was whether Sheridan was in fact "terminated," a necessary element to any...
Okay for lawyers to make employees’ DFEH complaints
In Rickards v. United Postal Service, Inc., the Second Appellate District resolved the lingering question whether attorneys can ethically file administrative discrimination complaints on their clients' behalf (they can). The issue arose because of a new...
Hoover v. American Income Life Insurance Company
Talk about burying the lede. In Hoover v. American Income Life Insurance Company, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District discussed at length how employers that aggressively litigate cases in court cannot later compel the cases to arbitrate...
You Always Want to Mediate
That's the lesson from Cullen v. Corwin, an appellate court case that denied attorneys' fees to a prevailing party that stubbornly refused to mediate early in its case. The case involved the sale of an allegedly-defective vacation home. The buyers sued but...
