Firm files opening brief challenging invasive job screenings in California Supreme Court

May 27, 2022 - Today firm attorneys Randy Erlewine, Brian Conlon, and Kyle O’Malley filed plaintiffs’ opening brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of clients Kristina Raines and Darrick Figg and a class of more than 500,000 California job applicants. Plaintiffs challenge Defendants US Healthworks’ and Concentra’s violations of the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), which prohibits an employer “or any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly” from discriminating against applicants and employees, here by conducting pre-employment medical exams which are not tailored to the specific job in question. Rather than following the law, Defendants required all applicants to divulge their entire personal medical history from birth to present before Defendants would tell the referring employers that the applicant “completed” the exam. Plaintiffs allege that if any applicant refused to disclose any information, no matter how irrelevant to the job or invasive, Defendants would terminate the exam and “fail” the applicant, resulting in revocation of the job offer. When sued by the Plaintiffs, Defendants claimed that only their clients, the direct employers, can be liable. Rather than deciding this important issue of state law affecting millions of California workers, the Ninth Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to definitively settle it. Plaintiffs argue that, by defining “employer” to include direct and indirect agents, the California Legislature intended to hold corporate agents liable for their wrongful acts. Defendants’ answering brief is due at the end of June 2022. Oral argument has not yet been set.