San Francisco, CA In January 2025, the California Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s denial of a PG&E lineman’s claim of retaliatory firing under California labor law. The appeals court also reversed the trial court’s $2.16 million defamation award. All said and done, Todd Hearn walked away with nothing.
Now, however, Hearn v. Pacific Gas & Electric is headed to the California Supreme Court for a closer look at the tangled relationship between public safety, whistleblower protections, workplace discrimination and harm to professional reputation. Among other things, this is also a story about the caution that workers need to exercise when facing a workplace investigation.
Todd Hearn worked for PG&E for 20 years first as a meter reader and thereafter, as a lineman. During the time in question, he worked at a Napa location, referred to as the “Napa yard.”
Beginning in 2017, he repeatedly expressed safety concerns to PG&E management about a device called a "Tripsaver" that PG&E began installing on its electrical lines in 2016. The Tripsaver automatically restored power to a line after a power interruption or “fault” occurred. This saved the time and expense of a trip by a lineman.
Hearn was concerned that Tripsavers were being installed in high fire-risk areas, where downed power lines might ignite dry grass or brush when re-energized. PG&E...
Kenneth Scott Miller, 48, is charged with a felony count of making a false report to law enforcement. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $500 bond. According to an Escambia County ...