Johnson v. Lucent Techs. Inc., 653 F.3d 1000 (2011)

In 2008, Russell H. Johnson, III, an African-American, sued Lucent and the administrator of his disability insurance benefits for retaliation in violation of Title VII, violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and intentional infliction of emotional distress in retaliation for his filing suit against Lucent in 2005 for stopping payment of his disability benefits. In

Rogers v. County of Los Angeles, 198 Cal. App. 4th 480 (2011)

After 19 weeks of medical leave, Katrina L. Rogers returned to her job as the personnel officer in the executive office responsible for rendering administrative and other support services to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. During her LOA, Rogers’ doctor told her that she could not perform her duties because

Kelley v. The Conco Cos., 196 Cal. App. 4th 191 (2011)

Patrick Kelley, an apprentice ironworker, complained to his employer, Conco, that he had been subjected to a “barrage of sexually demeaning comments and gestures by his male supervisor” (David Seamen). After Kelley’s union suspended him from its apprenticeship program, he was not rehired by Conco. Kelley sued for sexual harassment and retaliation in

Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 563 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 1325 (2011)

Kevin Kasten alleged that his former employer, Saint-Gobain, terminated his employment because he orally complained to Saint-Gobain about the location of its time clocks, which prevented workers from receiving credit for the time they spent putting on and taking off their work clothes (in violation of the Fair Labor Standards

Dawson v. Entek Int’l, 630 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2011)

Shane Dawson, a former temporary production line worker for Entek, ran a production line that rolled up battery separators. Dawson, who is gay, worked with 24 other male employees. Dawson’s employment was terminated two days after he had complained to human resources that he was being called “a homo and a fag and a

Thompson v. North Am. Stainless, LP, 562 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 863 (2011)

Eric Thompson and his fiancée, Miriam Regalado, were both employees of North American Stainless (“NAS”). Three weeks after Regalado filed a charge with the EEOC against NAS, alleging sex discrimination, NAS fired Thompson. Thompson subsequently filed a lawsuit against NAS, claiming the company had fired him in order to retaliate

Holmes v. Petrovich Dev. Co., 191 Cal. App. 4th 1047 (2011)

Gina Holmes sued her employer for harassment based on pregnancy, retaliation, constructive discharge, violation of the right to privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The trial court granted summary adjudication to the defendants with respect to the claims for harassment, retaliation and constructive discharge, and a jury decided against Holmes with respect

Coppinger-Martin v. Solis, 627 F.3d 745 (2010)

Carole Coppinger-Martin alleged that Nordstrom, Inc. violated the whistle-blower-protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), 18 U.S.C. § 1514A, by terminating her employment in retaliation for her reporting to supervisors conduct she believed violated the rules and regulations of the SEC. The United States Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) dismissed Coppinger-Martin’s complaint as