M.F. v. Pacific Pearl Hotel Mgmt. LLC, 2017 WL 4831603 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017)

M.F., a housekeeping employee who worked for a hotel, alleged she had been raped while working on the employer’s premises by a drunk, nonemployee trespasser whom the employer knew or should have known was on the premises and who had “aggressively propositioned at least one other housekeeping employee for sexual favors.” M.F. alleged the hotel had violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), which, among other things, requires an employer to protect an employee from sexual harassment caused by a nonemployee. The trial court sustained the employer’s demurrer on the ground that the FEHA claim was barred by the exclusive remedy provided by the Workers’ Compensation Act (“WCA”). However, the Court of Appeal reversed, holding that FEHA protects an employee from sexual harassment at the hands of a nonemployee when an employer knows or should have known of the conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action as was sufficiently alleged in this case. The Court further held that in view of the existence of a viable FEHA claim, the WCA presents no bar to the civil action.