A former UCLA doctor claims the university fired him after speaking out about patient safety and other concerns

HRD has spoken with several lawyers in recent weeks ahead of Employment Law Masterclass California, and they’ve all said that retaliation cases are on the rise.

In one recent example, a plaintiff claimed that his employer wrongfully terminated him in retaliation for whistleblowing after he discovered numerous concerns regarding “patient safety, mismanagement, economic waste, fraudulent and/or illegal conduct, unsafe and/or substandard conditions and incompetence.”

In Scheer v. The Regents of the University of California et al., a former chief administrative officer of the University of California, Los Angeles’ pathology and laboratory medicine department brought a suit alleging whistleblower retaliation against his former employer and two supervisors. The terminated employee alleged violations of three California laws: s. 1102.5 of the Labor Code, s. 8547 et seq. of the Government Code and s. 1278.5 of the Health and Safety Code.

UCLA claimed that it had legitimate and nonretaliatory reasons for termination. It alleged that the former employee:

• bullied and intimidated his coworkers;
• lacked enthusiasm for and increasingly became ineffective in his role;
• had an overly aggressive attitude relating to certain negotiations;
• had a harsh and disruptive style during meetings;
• was not an effective leader.

However, the appellate court said that there was a triable issue...

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