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City of Moorpark v. Superior Court of Ventura County8/17/1998
Assistant City Manager Richard Hare that she could perform her job and that she wanted to return to work, but Hare told her she could not have her job back. Dillon also objected in writing to Kueny, again to no avail. Dillon then filed a charge of disability discrimination with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and received notice of a right to sue under Government Code section 12965, subdivision (b). On February 22, 1995, Dillon sued the City of Moorpark, Kueny, and Hare, alleging causes of action for discrimination in violation of the FEHA, wrongful termination in violation of public policy (common law wrongful discharge), breach of contract, and intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress. She sought both compensatory and punitive damages.
Defendants demurred to all causes of action, arguing in part that, because Dillon's disability was work related, section 132a provided her exclusive remedy. Defendants asked the court to take judicial notice of Dillon's section 132a petition, which alleged essentially the same disability discrimination as part of a workers' compensation proceeding. The superior court disagreed that section 132a provided Dillon's exclusive remedy and overruled the demurrers to the FEHA and common law wrongful discharge causes of action. The court sustained the demurrers to the breach of contract and emotional distress causes of action on grounds not relevant here. Dillon then amended her complaint, dropping the breach of contract cause of action and restating the emotional distress cause of action.
On July 7, 1995, defendants petitioned the Court of Appeal for a writ of mandate, again arguing that section 132a provided Dillon's exclusive remedy and that the trial court therefore had erred in overruling the demurrers to Dillon's first two causes of action. The Court of Appeal denied the petition, citing the 1993 amendment to the FEHA, which it found to be "clear and intelligible." According to the Court of Appeal, the 1993 amendment meant "simply this: should any provision of state law offer less protection than does the FEHA, then such provision is inoperable and effectively preempted by the FEHA." The court concluded that section 132a offered "less protection" than the FEHA to victims of disability discrimination because it did not offer as many remedial options, did not provide a right to a jury trial or a right to appeal, and resulted in smaller overall awards. Because section 132a offered "less protection," the court concluded that the FEHA implicitly repealed section 132a. Without explanation, however, the court held that the FEHA only repealed the exclusivity aspect of section 132a. The court stated that section 132a remained an "alternative mechanism " for resolving disability discrimination claims.
We granted review in order to consider the interrelationship between section 132a and other statutory and common law remedies for disability discrimination in the workplace. Discussion
1. Exclusivity of section 132a remedy.
Section 132a provides: "It is the declared policy of this state that there should not be discrimination against workers who are injured in the course and scope of their employment. [ ] (1) Any employer who discharges, or threatens to discharge, or in any manner discriminates against any employee because he or she has filed or made known his or her intention to file a claim for compensation with his or her employer or an application for adjudication, or because the employee has received a rating, award, or settlement, is guilty of a misdemeanor and the employee's compensation shall be increased by one-half, but in no event more than ten thousand dollars . . . , together with
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