Firm scores landmark victory for employees in California Supreme Court
August 21, 2023 – Today the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Raines v. US Healthworks (Case No. S273630), holding that “an employer’s business entity agents can be held directly liable under the FEHA for employment discrimination in appropriate circumstances when the business-entity agent has at least five employees and carries out FEHA-regulated activities on behalf of an employer.” The Court’s unanimous decision authored by Justice Jenkins adopts the firm’s arguments in full, concluding “that legislative history, analogous federal court decisions, and legislative policy considerations all support the natural reading of [FEHA] advanced [by the plaintiffs] here, which permits business-entity agents to be held directly liable for FEHA violations in appropriate circumstances.”
Lead counsel for the plaintiffs, firm partner Randy Erlewine, commented: “We are gratified that the State’s highest court has settled this important issue of law and vindicated the rights of workers to be free from discriminatory policies at the hands of their employer’s corporate agents. The high court has sent a message: Agents of employers cannot escape liability for their own violations of the law.”
Plaintiffs enjoyed the support of amicus briefs from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and leading disability and employment rights groups including Legal Aid at Work among others. The plaintiffs are represented by experienced employment attorneys Randy Erlewine, Brian Conlon, and Kyle O’Malley.
The case will now return to the Ninth Circuit, which had asked the California Supreme Court to decide this important issue of California law, and is expected to be remanded to the federal district court in San Diego for further proceedings.
Additional reporting: