New Noteworthy Cases
Topic: First Amendment Protections for Government Employees. Plaintiff, a supervising deputy district attorney, advised his supervisors to dismiss a case based on misrepresentations in a police affidavit that was used to obtain a search warrant. At the hearing on a defense motion to challenge the warrant, Plaintiff recounted his review of the affidavit. He was later transferred to a new position and denied a promotion. Plaintiff claimed that these employment actions were in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court held that when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, they are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline. Thus, had Ceballos leaked his information to the press, his speech would likely have been protected. However, because his "complaint" was contained in a work-related memorandum, his actions were not protected by the First Amendment.
Singh v. Superior Court (UHS of Delaware, Inc.), No. B187797 (2nd Dist. June 12, 2006). Topic: Payment of overtime for healthcare employees working alternative workweek schedules. Plaintiff Singh, a registered nurse, signed an agreement in accordance with an alternative workweek schedule that had previously been adopted by the hospital's employees. The agreement stated that he would be paid the regular rate of pay for work performed within the 3/12 schedule (three twelve-hour shifts per week), time-and-a-half pay for all work performed beyond forty hours in the workweek and double time pay for work in excess of twelve hours in a workday. Singh argued that under the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order No. 5 (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, ยง 1150, subd. 3(B)(1)), he was entitled to time-and-a-half pay for all hours worked beyond the regularly scheduled alternative workweek, including hours 37 to 40. The hospital argued that under section 3(B)(8), Singh was only entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours of work had been performed in a week. The Court found in favor of the hospital, holding that Wage Order No. 5 provides that health care employees working a 3/12 alternative workweek schedule are only entitled to overtime pay for work in excess of forty hours per week or twelve hours in a workday.
Carter v. California Dept. of Veterans Affairs, No. S12796 (June 8, 2006). Topic: retroactivity of FEHA amendments. Plaintiff, a nurse, brought suit alleging that she had been sexually harassed by a patient in 1996. The California Supreme Court found that the 2003 amendment to FEHA, which expressly imposed liability on employers for sexual harassment by non-employees, applies to claims preceding the amendment.
Williams v. Genentech, Inc., No. A110611 (1st Dist., May 9, 2006). Topic: Continuing Violation Doctrine; Duty to Accommodate. Plaintiff, a receptionist, went out on medical leave for work-related stress in October 2000. On January 31, 2001, after having received multiple requests for extension of Plaintiff's leave, Genentech filled Plaintiff's position. Genentech informed Plaintiff that when she was cleared to return to work, she would have sixty days to apply for a new position. On July 9, 2002, more than a year after she had been informed that her position had been filled, Plaintiff filed a DFEH charge in which she alleged race and disability discrimination. The Court held that there was a triable issue of fact as to whether or not the continuing violation doctrine applied to extend the statute of limitations where she was not actually terminated until July 16, 2001. Further, although Plaintiff did not include a "failure to accommodate" claim on her DFEH complaint, the Court held that the trial court erred in barring the cause of action under the exhaustion of administrative remedies doctrine where she had included "disability discrimination" in her original charge. However, because Plaintiff had presented a doctor's note stating that she was "totally incapacitated" and unable to work at the time Genentech filled her position, she failed to establish that she was a qualified individual with a disability. Further, the undisputed evidence established that Genentech did not did not fail to accommodate Plaintiff or to engage in the interactive process where there were no available jobs at the time Plaintiff was cleared to return to work.