Hernandez v. Rancho Santiago Cmty. Coll. Dist., 2018 WL 2057468 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018)
Marisa Hernandez worked on and off as an assistant for the District for a number of years without any complaints about her performance. Eight months into her 12-month probationary period (after which point she would become a “permanent employee”), Hernandez took a temporary disability leave of absence to have
Simers v. Los Angeles Times Commc’ns, LLC, 18 Cal. App. 5th 1248 (2018)
T.J. Simers, a well-known sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, alleged disability and age discrimination and constructive discharge – Simers, who had suffered a “mini-stroke” from which he quickly recovered, quit his job after his column was suspended and he was reprimanded and demoted for a possible ethical
Bustos v. Global P.E.T., Inc., 19 Cal. App. 5th 558 (2017)
William Bustos sued his former employer for disability discrimination. A jury determined that Bustos’ actual or perceived physical condition was a substantial motivating reason for his termination, but nevertheless returned defense verdicts on all of his claims. After the trial, Bustos sought an award of his attorney’s fees under the Fair Employment
Alamillo v. BNSF Ry. Co., 2017 WL 3648514 (9th Cir. 2017)
Antonio Alamillo, who worked as a locomotive engineer for BNSF, missed several calls and was suspended on at least two occasions before being terminated. Around the same time, Alamillo began to suspect he was experiencing a medical problem and was soon diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (“OSA”) for which he was prescribed a
Jury panels in the Los Angeles Superior Court (which is often referred to as “The Bank” by the plaintiffs’ bar) have recently delivered multimillion-dollar verdicts to former-employee plaintiffs. Many employers doing business in California already have insulated themselves from such disasters by adopting comprehensive arbitration regimes, which would require that such cases be heard by a retired judge or employment lawyer rather than a jury
Featherstone v. Southern Cal. Permanente Med. Grp., 2017 WL 1399709 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017)
Ruth Featherstone alleged that her former employer (SCPMG) discriminated against her based on a “temporary disability” that was caused by an adverse drug reaction, which resulted in an “altered mental state.” During this alleged altered mental state, Featherstone resigned orally from her job in a telephone conversation with her supervisor
Soria v. Univision Radio Los Angeles, Inc., 5 Cal. App. 5th 570 (2016)
Sofia Soria worked as an on-air radio personality for Univision for approximately 14 years before her employment was terminated for alleged tardiness and lack of preparation for her show. In response to Soria’s lawsuit for alleged disability discrimination, Univision argued it had no knowledge of Soria’s alleged disability (a benign tumor)
Beginning January 1, 2018, the amount of paid family leave benefits increases from 55 percent of earnings to 60 or 70 percent of earnings, depending on the employee’s income (subject to a maximum weekly benefit limit). In addition, the current seven-day waiting period to receive benefits is eliminated. (AB 908.)
Moore v. The Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 2016 WL 3434186 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016)
Deborah Moore was employed as the Director of Marketing for the University of California San Diego (UCSD) until her job was eliminated shortly after she got a new supervisor who believed that the job functions that Moore was performing had decreased to such a point that the supervisor
Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc., 246 Cal. App. 4th 180 (2016)
Luis Castro-Ramirez sued his former employer, Dependable Highway Express, Inc., for “associational disability discrimination,” failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) and wrongful termination. Castro-Ramirez’s son requires daily dialysis, and Castro-Ramirez must administer the treatment to his son. Castro-Ramirez’s supervisors had for several years