Bay Area Employment Lawyer Blog

Employers shouldn’t have such a tough time figuring out whether and when an employee is eligible for a protected leave of absence under California law (California Family Right Act – CFRA) or federal law (Family and Medical Leave Act – FMLA). This case is a prime example of the mishaps – here unremedied – that…

California has good law for employees regarding the admission of evidence that the employer discriminated against other employees, commonly referred to as “me too” evidence. Case law is clear that an employee can submit evidence that the decision maker discriminated against another employee on the same basis for which the employee claims discrimination. See Pantoja…

Mr. Richey worked as a sales manager at a Toyota dealership. He suffered a back injury while moving furniture at home, and applied for family leave from Toyota. The leave was granted, but Mr. Richey was fired because his employer alleged that he was abusing his family leave by working in a family restaurant he…

Ana Fuentes Sanchez took a pregnancy disability leave of absence while working for Swissport, Inc. When she exhausted her four months of leave mandated by the Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL) she was still unable to return to work because of the nature of her high risk pregnancy. Swissport terminated Ms. Sanchez after the expiration…

The case of Veronese v. Lucasfilm, Ltd. (2012) 212 Cal.App.4th 1, is replete with lessons to be learned on all fronts, especially lessons about how to navigate through the process of instructing the jury in an employment discrimination jury trial, and dealing with implicit or unspoken bias, here from a judicial panel. The lawyers representing…

For years now in California, juries have been instructed that a plaintiff in an employment discrimination case under California law must prove that discrimination was “a motivating reason” or “a motivating factor” in the wrongful employment decision. See, for example, Mixon v. Fair Employment & Housing Commission (1987) 192 Cal.App.3d 1306. This has been essential…

Statistical evidence, layoffs, and age discrimination cases can be tough. Take the situation facing Schechner and Lobertini in their case against KPIX-TV. Both were television news reporters who were laid off in an across the board budget reduction. They brought a lawsuit in federal district court against KPIX-TV, alleging that they were laid off based…

Sometimes reading a U.S. Supreme Court case really makes you wonder whether the courts forget to enforce the intent of our anti-discrimination laws. Take the case of Coleman v. Maryland Court of Appeals 132 U.S. 1327 (March 20, 2012), contrast it with the Supreme Court’s prior holding in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs…

Pulli v. Pony International (June 19, 2012) ___ Cal.4th____ is another interpretation of an arbitration agreement in a long line of cases interpreting whether or not an arbitration agreement is enforceable. The fact that this case even exists underscores the fact that the law on the enforceability of arbitration agreements is unnecessarily murky and that…

Generally speaking, exhaustion of administrative remedies is an unnecessary hurdle for an employee to jump over on his or her way to court when filing a discrimination, harassment or retaliation claim. Rickards v. UPS (June 19, 2012), ___Cal.App.4th ___ is just another case demonstrating this same point. Mr. Rickards had a claim for discrimination against…