This post was also written by Hardy Ray Murphy.
In a March 3, 2008 ruling, a sharply divided California Supreme Court determined that individuals (e.g., supervisors and coworkers) cannot be held personally liable for retaliation in employment under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”). Scott Jones v. The Lodge at Torrey Pines Partnership, et al.1 This important ruling reverses the contrary conclusions of lower state courts and federal courts in California, and clarifies that only employers, not individuals, can be held liable for retaliation under California law.
The Torrey Pines decision flows from the court’s 10-year-old decision in Reno v. Baird,2 which held that individuals cannot be held personally liable for discrimination under the FEHA, but can be held liable for harassment. The Supreme Court reached that holding in Reno by focusing on the legislature’s different statutory treatment of harassment and discrimination claims. The court further reasoned that harassment claims typically concern conduct that is unnecessary to a supervisor’s job performance and that is engaged in solely for personal...
