Last year the California Supreme Court agreed to take up a question from the 9th Circuit regarding the evidentiary standard for whistleblower retaliation claims brought under California Labor Code section 1102.5. The California Supreme Court in Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc, held that Labor Code section 1102.6 “provides the governing framework for the presentation and evaluation of whistleblower retaliation claims brought under section 1102.5.” And plaintiff-employees are not required to meet the McDonnell Douglas test, set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, which pertained to a claim under Title VII, the federal statute for workplace discrimination.
Under Labor Code section 1102.6, the plaintiff-employee has the burden to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that retaliation for an employee’s protected activities was a contributing factor in a contested employment action. Once the plaintiff-employee has made the required showing, the burden shifts to the employer to demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, that it would have taken the action in question for a legitimate, independent reason even had the plaintiff not engaged in protected activity.
The McDonnell- Douglas test swaps those burdens of proof, once the plaintiff shows that retaliation occurred, the employer could escape liability if it stated a non-retaliatory reason for its action unless the plaintiff could show, by substantial evidence, that the non-retaliatory reason was a...
Hospitals will likely spend more to protect themselves from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ expanded powers to kick them out of government health programs, which would be ruinous f...