Employment Law Case Notes
| Publication year | 2019 |
| Author | By Anthony J. Oncidi |
By Anthony J. Oncidi
Anthony J. Oncidi is a partner in and the Chair of the Labor and Employment Department of Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles, where he exclusively represents employers and management in all areas of employment and labor law. His telephone number is (310) 284-5690 and his email address is aoncidi® proskauer.com. (Tony has authored this column without interruption for every issue of this publication since 1990.)
Symmonds v. Mahoney, 31 Cal. App. 5th 1096 (2019)
After 41 years, singer/songwriter Edward Joseph Mahoney (a.k.a. "Eddie Money") terminated the employment of Glenn Symmonds (the band's drummer). Symmonds filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination based on age, disability, and medical condition in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Mahoney filed an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the FEHA claim on the ground that Symmonds' claim arose in connection with an issue of public interest, given the media's and the public's interest in Mahoney and his music. The trial court denied Mahoney's motion to dismiss, but the court of appeal reversed, holding that "a singer's selection of the musicians that play with him both advances and assists the performance of the music, and therefore is an act in furtherance of his exercise of the right to free speech." See also Rall v. Tribune 365 LLC, 31 Cal. App. 5th 479 (2019) (Los Angeles Times' anti-SLAPP motion was properly granted, dismissing former blogger's defamation and wrongful termination claims based on the Times' "constitutionally protected editorial decision to stop publishing [the blogger's] work"); Laker v. Board of Trustees, 32 Cal. App. 5th 745 (2019) (university's anti-SLAPP motion should have been granted, dismissing professor's defamation claim arising from several internal investigations).
Siri v. Sutter Home Winery, Inc., 31 Cal. App. 5th 598 (2019)
Says Siri alleged that Sutter Home Winery terminated her employment as its general ledger staff accountant in retaliation for Siri having reported Sutter to the state Board of Equalization and writing to Sutter's general counsel. Siri had notified the Board that Sutter was out of compliance with California sales and use tax law. Sutter successfully moved for summary judgment of Siri's lawsuit on the ground that Siri could not establish the elements of her claim without relying on Sutter's tax returns, which were privileged and unavailable to her in connection with the prosecution of her lawsuit. The court of appeal reversed, holding that Sutter had not established that Siri could not prove her case without Sutter's tax returns—"Plaintiff's right to recover turns only on whether she was discharged for communicating her reasonable belief that [Sutter] was not properly reporting its use tax obligation." See also Wadler v. Bio-Rad Labs., Inc., 916 F.3d 1176 (9th Cir. 2019) (portion of $11 million whistleblower verdict in favor of former general counsel vacated based on erroneous jury instructions regarding Sarbanes-Oxley Act violation, but punitive damages awarded under state common law theory upheld).
Gilberg v....
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