Krell v. Gray, 126 Cal. App. 4th 1208 (2005)

Robert Krell, the assistant principal at Pacoima Middle School, issued a reprimand to Fleming Gray, a substitute teacher at the school, after Gray refused to permit one of his students to use the restroom during class. Gray filed a grievance with the LAUSD, and the matter was settled by removing the reprimand from Gray’s file…

Leonel v. American Airlines, Inc., 400 F.3d 702 (9th Cir. 2005)

Walber Leonel and two other individuals applied for flight attendant positions with American Airlines. Plaintiffs were interviewed in Dallas and received conditional offers of employment, contingent upon their passing background checks and medical examinations. Although none of the applicants disclosed his HIV-positive status or related medications, American conducted tests on the blood samples…

Westside Concrete Co. v. Dep’t of Indus. Relations, 123 Cal. App. 4th 1317 (2004)

Westside Concrete Company sought a judicial declaration that the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement’s opinion letters interpreting Wage Order 1 regarding off-duty meal periods were "administrative regulations" subject to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In response, the DLSE successfully demurred to the complaint on the ground…

Lonicki v. Sutter Health Central, 124 Cal. App. 4th 1139 (2004)

Antonina Lonicki, a certified technician of sterile processing, was fired when she failed to return to her job at Sutter, following a leave of absence. During the leave, Lonicki continued to perform the same job duties at Kaiser in the same geographic area. In her lawsuit, Lonicki alleged Sutter had violated the California…

Pardi v. Kaiser Found. Hosp., 389 F.3d 840 (9th Cir. 2004)

Stephan Pardi, a licensed respiratory care practitioner, sued Kaiser for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and breach of contract. In January 2000, Kaiser, Pardi and Pardi’s union entered into a Settlement Agreement and General Release to resolve an earlier…

Toscano v. Greene Music, 124 Cal. App. 4th 685 (2004)

Joseph Toscano sued Greene Music on a theory of promissory estoppel after Toscano quit his job as a general manager of Fields Pianos to take a sales management position with Greene. Toscano resigned from Fields in reliance upon Greene’s promise of at-will employment. Two weeks before Toscano was scheduled to begin his new job…

Hawkins v. Pacific Coast Bldg. Products, Inc., 124 Cal. App. 4th 1497 (2004)

In his racial harassment and discrimination lawsuit against his former employer, Leroy Hawkins erroneously identified the employer (Pacific Coast) as "Basalite Corporation," a variation of its fictitious business name, "Basalite." Pacific Coast moved to quash service of the complaint on the ground that Hawkins had failed properly to designate the company…

Lujan v. Minagar, 124 Cal. App. 4th 1040 (2004)

Shala Minagar, the owner of a beauty salon in Malibu, fired two employees (including one who had made a complaint to Cal-OSHA) the day the agency inspected the salon and cited Minagar for several minor workplace safety violations. The Labor Commissioner cited Minagar for firing one of the employees (Noelle Dianella), and the Department of…

Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Co., 444 F.3d 1104 (9th Cir. 2004)

Darlene Jespersen, a former bartender at Harrah’s, filed this Title VII action, alleging the casino had discriminated against her on the basis of her sex when she was fired for refusing to comply with the casino’s appearance standards policy requiring all female beverage servers to wear makeup. (Harrah’s "Personal Best" appearance standards also…

City of San Diego v. Roe, 543 U.S. 77 125 S. Ct. 521 (2004) (per curiam)

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…