After she was terminated, appellant employee sued respondent former employer, asserting claims under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), GovCode, § 12900 et seq., and several nonstatutory claimsThe Superior Court of San Diego County (California) sustained the employer’s demurrer, finding that the employee’s FEHA-based claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitationsThe employee appealed.
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Overview
The trial court also found the employee failed to sufficiently state a cause of action on her remaining claimsThe court held that the employee’s disability discrimination claim was time-barred because she did not file her lawsuit within one year of receiving her second right-to-sue notice from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)Although the employee timely alleged her racial discrimination claim regarding her former supervisor in her first DFEH complaint, she did not timely file suit once she received her right-to-sue letter on that complaintHowever, the employee’s third DFEH complaint alleging retaliatory termination was timely under GovCode, § 12960, because she filed the claim less than four months after the terminationThe employer, not the employee, selected the termination date and was in control of the trigger date for the accrual periodTo the extent the employee was able to prove the allegations of a timely retaliation complaint, she might also be entitled to recover on a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy prohibiting retaliatory terminations.
Outcome
The court reversed the judgment as to the causes of action for retaliation under the FEHA and for wrongful termination in violation of public policy based on the retaliation claim but otherwise affirmed the judgment.
