Class action lawsuit claims gender-based hostile work environment
In a recent case, two nurses claimed that, while assigned to one-on-one suicide monitoring duties, prison inmates in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)’s California Institution for Men subjected them to sexual harassment.
CDCR – the defendant in the case of Bitner et al. v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – employed the two plaintiffs in the case as licensed vocational nurses. The nurses filed a class action lawsuit against CDCR.
The nurses alleged that CDCR had a gender-based hostile work environment, which violated section 12940(j) of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and failed to prevent harassment, which breached section 12940(k) of the FEHA.
CDCR filed a motion for summary judgment. It raised statutory immunity under section 844.6 of California’s Government Code as an affirmative defense. Under section 844.6, a public entity was generally not liable for an injury that a prisoner proximately caused. This rule was subject to specific, enumerated exceptions.
The trial court granted summary judgment in CDCR’s favor. It agreed that CDCR was entitled to statutory immunity under section 844.6.
The nurses filed an appeal. They made the following arguments:
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