Employment Law Case Notes

• Citation: Vol. 34 No. 1
• Publication year: 2020
• Author: By Anthony J. Oncidi

Employment Law Case Notes

By Anthony J. Oncidi

Anthony J. Oncidi is a partner 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.)

Court Upholds Whistleblower Verdicts in Favor of Fired Parking Ticket Hearing Examiners

Hawkins v. City of Los Angeles, 40 Cal. App. 5th 384 (2019)

Todd Hawkins and Hyung Kim were terminated from their jobs as hearing examiners at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Hawkins and Kim alleged they had been fired for whistleblowing on the City's practice of pressuring parking ticket hearing examiners to change decisions from "not liable" to "liable," meaning that drivers who had challenged their tickets were not getting refunds to which hearing examiners had found they were entitled. The jury respectively awarded Hawkins $238,531 and Kim $188,631 in damages, and the trial court assessed a $20,000 penalty under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and awarded plaintiffs $1,054,287 in attorney fees. The court of appeal affirmed the judgment, holding that the City's proffered reasons for firing plaintiffs were pretextual because, among other things, the employees were not terminated for their alleged performance deficiencies until after they had complained. Further, there was "overwhelming evidence" that supervisors had instructed hearing officers to change decisions: "Liable. Liable. Liable. Everything had to be liable."

College Professor Was Retaliated Against for Complaining About Hostile Environment

Gupta v. Trustees of the Cal. State Univ., 40 Cal. App. 5th 510 (2019)

Rashmi Gupta was denied a promotion to associate professor and lifetime tenure at San Francisco State University and was terminated after she and several other women of color in the university's School of Social Work complained about alleged "abuse of power and authority, excessive micromanagement, bullying, and the creation of a hostile environment." Gupta sued the university for discrimination and retaliation, and the jury awarded her $378,421 on the retaliation claim but found no liability on the discrimination claim. The trial court awarded Gupta an additional $587,161 in attorney fees and costs, but denied her request for immediate reinstatement based upon there being no available position for her at the university. The court of appeal affirmed the judgment, holding that Gupta was not required to show she was "clearly superior" to a "comparator professor" who was granted tenure (but who had not complained).

Discriminatory Failure-To-Hire Claim Must Be Brought Under FEHA

Williams v. Sacramento River Cats Baseball Club, LLC, 40 Cal. App. 5th 280 (2019)

Wilfert Williams sued the Sacramento River...