Pacific Corp. Group Holdings, LLC v. Keck, 2014 WL 7012380 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014)

PCGH sued its former employee, Thomas Keck, to collect on an unpaid promissory note. Keck defended against the action by claiming that any money he owed PCGH was offset by monies PCGH owed him for unpaid bonus and severance payments due under two employment agreements he had with PCGH. In

As regular readers of this blog know, it has been a busy summer for employment-related legislation in the California Legislature (see here and here). Yet of all the bills currently wending their way through the legislative process, none would affect California employment law more than Senate Bill 655. If enacted, SB 655 would modify the rule set forth in the California Supreme Court’s recent

Cordero-Sacks v. Housing Authority of Los Angeles, 200 Cal. App. 4th 1267 (2011)

Ada Cordero-Sacks was terminated from her position as an attorney in the Los Angeles Housing Authority’s Office of Internal Control following her investigation of alleged internal misconduct and fraud within the Authority. Cordero-Sacks’s claim for retaliatory discharge under the California False Claims Act (the “FCA”) was tried to a jury, which

Bradley v. California Dep’t of Corrections & Rehabilitation, 158 Cal. App. 4th 1612 (2008)

Sallie Mae Bradley worked temporarily at a California prison as a licensed clinical social worker. Bradley sued the California Department of Corrections (“CDC”) for sexual harassment directed at her by the prison’s Muslim chaplain, Omar Shakir. The jury awarded her $300,000 in non-economic damages and $139,000 in past and future

Mokler v. County of Orange, 157 Cal. App. 4th 121 (2007)

Pamela Mokler was employed as the executive director of the County’s Office on Aging (“OoA”). Following her termination, she sued the County for breach of contract, wrongful termination, hostile work environment and unlawful retaliation under Labor Code § 1102.5 (the “whistleblower statute”). The jury awarded Mokler $14,089.60 in past economic damages and $1,681,823

Harman v. City and County of San Francisco, 158 Cal. App. 4th 407 (2007)

This case, which was originally filed in federal court in 1999, involved allegations of race and sex discrimination by Allen Harman and two other white males who were employed as airfield safety officers at the San Francisco International Airport. After the case went to trial, a jury awarded Harman $15,300

Casella v. SouthWest Dealer Services, 157 Cal. App. 4th 1127 (2007)

Zachary Casella was employed as a sales representative for SouthWest Dealer Services, which sells its aftermarket auto products to auto dealerships and helps train auto dealership finance and insurance salespeople on how to promote and sell SouthWest’s products. Casella moved from New York to California to accept the position. After his employment was

Guglielmino v. McKee Foods Corp., 506 F.3d 696 (9th Cir. 2007)

Plaintiffs sued McKee Foods in this putative class action in state court, alleging violation of the California Labor Code, fraud, breach of contract and related claims. McKee timely removed the action to federal court and asserted that even though plaintiffs affirmatively alleged that the damages suffered by each of them were less than

McGee v. Tucoemas Fed. Credit Union, 153 Cal. App. 4th 1351 (2007)

Kimberly McGee, a former vice president of lending for the credit union, took a leave of absence for surgery and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The credit union allegedly told McGee that if she did not return to work within four months she would be fired. When McGee returned to

Lathrop v. HealthCare Partners Med. Group, 114 Cal. App. 4th 1412 (2004)

Terry Lathrop and her husband sued HealthCare Partners, among others, for their failure to diagnose her breast cancer. The jury apportioned 58% of the fault to HealthCare Partners, which argued that it was subject to the $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages that is set forth in the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act