California Employment Law Notes

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Rivero v. AFSCME, AFL-CIO, 105 Cal. App. 4th 913 (2003)

David Rivero was a supervisor of janitors at the International House at UC Berkeley before his employment was terminated when he refused to accept a demotion to dishwasher and pot scrubber in the International House’s kitchen. Rivero sued his union, the AFSCME, for libel, slander and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other things,…

Simo v. UNITE-SW, 322 F.3d 602 (9th Cir. 2003)

Twenty-five garment workers brought suit against their union and its officials after the union allegedly engaged in secondary pressure to remove work from their factory. Among other things, the workers alleged that the union had intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon them. The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the union on the emotional…

Meyer v. Holley, 537 U.S. 280, 123 S. Ct. 824 (2003)

Ellen and David Holley, an interracial couple, sued Triad, Inc., a Triad employee and David Meyer (Triad’s owner) for violation of the federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) after the Triad employee allegedly prevented the Holleys from buying a house in Twenty-Nine Palms, California for racially discriminatory reasons. At issue in the case was…

Gregory v. SCIE, LLC, 317 F.3d 1050 (9th Cir. 2003)

Rodney Gregory, a member of Local 44 of the IATSE union, filed an action in state court alleging a violation of the California Labor Code and Wage Orders for SCIE’s failure to pay him premium wage rates for overtime work he had performed. SCIE removed the action to federal court on the ground that…

Colores v. Bd. of Trustees of the Cal. State Univ., 105 Cal. App. 4th 1293 (2003)

Lillian Colores, a former director of procurement, contracts and support services for California State University, Los Angeles, alleged that she was constructively terminated in violation of public policy. Nine years after she began working at the university (and 12 years before she applied for and received disability retirement),…

Jensen v. Amgen, Inc., 105 Cal. App. 4th 1322 (2003)

Darcy Jensen, who was employed at Amgen as a module team coordinator, alleged that she sustained injuries after she was exposed to mold on Amgen’s premises. Jensen filed a lawsuit asserting causes of action for fraudulent concealment of injuries under Labor Code § 3602(b)(2), battery and unfair business practices. The trial court granted Amgen’s…

Northrop Grumman Corp. v. WCAB, 103 Cal. App. 4th 1021 (2002)

Robert C. Graves filed a workers’ compensation claim for psychiatric injuries he allegedly sustained following an investigation into his alleged racial discrimination against a subordinate employee whom he supervised at Northrop Grumman. The workers’ compensation judge (and the WCAB) found that the psychiatric injury caused Graves permanent disability of 20 percent, that further…

Doe 1 v. City of Murrieta, 102 Cal. App. 4th 899 (2002)

In this case, a Murrieta police officer sexually abused two 16- year-old girls who were participants in the Murrieta Police Department’s Explorer Program. The minors alleged that the City of Murrieta was vicariously liable for the police officer’s sexual misconduct. The trial court sustained the city’s demurrer without leave to amend to…

Falkowski v. Imation Corp., 309 F.3d 1123 (9th Cir. 2002)

This class action litigation arose from a merger in which Imation Corporation, a publicly traded company, acquired Cemax-Icon, a closely held company in the medical information management business. A year after the merger, Imation sold the Cemax subsidiary to Eastman Kodak Company. The plaintiffs are a group of former Imation employees who alleged breach…

Alexander v. Codemasters Group Ltd., 104 Cal. App. 4th 129 (2002)

Craig Alexander alleged breach of contract against Codemasters (a United Kingdom-based computer game company) for its failure to provide Alexander (a former executive with the company) with options to purchase 35,000 shares of Codemasters’ stock at an exercise price of $3.25 per share. In its successful motion for summary judgment, Codemasters asserted that…