California Employment Law Notes

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Coleman v. Standard Life Ins. Co., 288 F. Supp. 2d 1116 (E.D. Cal. 2003)

Floyd Coleman, who was employed as a probation officer for the County of Sacramento, sued Standard Life Insurance Company after it denied him long-term disability benefits for his knee condition and chronic back pain. Coleman sued for a violation of ERISA and under state law for breach of contract and…

Oxy Resources Cal. LLC v. Superior Court, 115 Cal. App. 4th 874 (2004)

Oxy Resources and EOG Resources entered into a complex transaction whereby they exchanged interests in a number of oil and gas producing properties. Oxy and EOG anticipated that Calpine Natural Gas LP might sue them as a result of the transaction and, therefore, they entered into a joint-defense agreement before finalizing…

Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers’ Ass’n v. County of Los Angeles, 115 Cal. App. 4th 866 (2004)

William Kupper and Bennie Layne worked as investigators for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office before becoming temporarily disabled after being injured on the job. Kupper and Layne both retired after their disabilities became permanent. Under the applicable County ordinances, DA investigators could accumulate up…

Kotla v. The Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 115 Cal. App. 4th 283 (2004)

Dee Kotla, a former computer support technician, sued the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (the Lab) for retaliation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) after she testified at a deposition in support of another employee’s claim of sexual harassment. The Lab contended that it had terminated Kotla’s employment as…

Crown Appliance v. WCAB, 115 Cal. App. 4th 620 (2004)

Crown Appliance petitioned the Court of Appeal for a writ of review, following a determination by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) that Crown had discriminated against its employee, Morton Wong, for filing a workers’ compensation claim. Wong sustained an industrial injury to his left elbow and back while employed as a delivery driver…

Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. WCAB, 114 Cal. App. 4th 1174 (2004)

Clifford Bryan filed a workers’ compensation claim against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) after he was forced to leave work in October 2001 due to the stress of his job in interacting with customers who did not like the company and due to the financial problems affecting PG&E during that…

Blitz v. Fluor Enterprises, Inc., 115 Cal. App. 4th 185, 8 Cal. Rptr. 3d 833 (2004)

Mr. Blitz had been employed in a financial position at Raytheon in New Jersey for 12 years before he was contacted by a member of Fluor’s management team and offered a job in California. Before resigning his position with Raytheon and moving to California, Blitz told Fluor that…

Roe v. City of San Diego, 356 F.3d 1108 (9th Cir. 2004)

While working as a San Diego police officer, John Roe videotaped himself stripping off a generic police officer’s uniform and engaging in acts of masturbation. Roe sold the videos on the adults-only section of eBay – under the username “Code3stud@aol.com.” After one of Roe’s supervisors discovered the videos online and recognized Roe,…

Bell v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 115 Cal. App. 4th 715 (2004)

Following a jury trial, Farmers Insurance Exchange was ordered to pay a class consisting of 2,402 current and former claims representatives over $90 million in unpaid overtime and over $32 million in prejudgment interest. The claims representatives contended that Farmers had improperly classified them as exempt administrative employees and had unlawfully deprived them…

Miller v. Yokohama Tire Corp., 358 F.3d 616 (9th Cir. 2004)

Christopher Miller, who worked for Yokohama Tire Corporation for 11 years before his termination, alleged that he was denied overtime pay as a result of a “fraudulent scheme” on the part of his employer. Miller further alleged that Yokohama mailed him and other improperly paid employees their paychecks or pay stubs twice monthly…