Buena Park Employment Attorneys

In this case, Plaintiff Frederick Phillips filed a wrongful termination action against defendant St. Mary Regional Medical Center, a nonprofit religious corporation, alleging that defendant retaliated against him for filing a complaint for race and sex discrimination with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Plaintiff claimed that defendant violated the public policy set forth in the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), article I, section 8 of the California Constitution (Section 8), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). In response to a demurrer filed by defendant, the trial court found, as a matter of law, that plaintiff failed to state a cause of action for wrongful termination because the cited authorities were inadequate to overcome the religious-entity exemption under the pre-amended version of FEHA. In challenging the court’s decision sustaining defendant’s demurrer, plaintiff argued that all three sources of public policy were adequate to support his claims for wrongful termination. Although the appellate court reject plaintiff’s reliance on FEHA, it agreed with plaintiff that Section 8 and Title VII are alternative sources of fundamental and well-established public policy sufficient to support plaintiff’s common law cause of action for wrongful termination.  Accordingly, it reversed the trial court’s judgment. The Court’s opinion explained as follows: “The tort cause of action for wrongful termination in violation of public policy provides a vehicle for recourse that otherwise would be unavailable under general rules of the at-will employment doctrine. First recognized by the California Supreme Court in Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co., this public policy exception allows an employee to bring a tort cause of action against an employer who terminates an at-will employment on a ground that violates fundamental public policy. The exception is based on the principle that, although an employer may terminate an at-will employee for no reason, or any arbitrary or irrational reason, the employer has no power to terminate the employee for a reason contrary to the law or fundamental public policy. Despite broad acceptance of the public policy exception, “[t]he difficulty … lies in determining where and how to draw the line between claims that genuinely involve matters of public policy, and those that concern merely ordinary disputes between employer and employee. This determination depends in large part on whether the public policy alleged is sufficiently clear to provide the basis for such a potent remedy.” To support a wrongful discharge claim, the policy must be “(1) delineated in either constitutional or statutory provisions; (2) ‘public’ in the sense that it ‘inures to the benefit of the public’ rather than serving merely the interests of the individual; (3) well established at the time of the discharge; and (4) substantial and fundamental.” By limiting the sources of public policy to constitutional and statutory provisions, the California Supreme Court recognized that the concept of public policy was “notoriously resistant to precise definition.” Thus, “courts should venture into this area, if at all, with great care and due deference to the judgment of the legislative branch, ‘lest they mistake their own predilections for public policy which deserves recognition at law.’ [Citation.]” Moreover, “[a] public policy exception carefully tethered to fundamental policies that are delineated in constitutional or statutory provisions strikes the proper balance among the interests of employers, employees and the public. The employer is bound, at a minimum, to know the fundamental public policies of the state and nation as expressed in their constitutions and statutes; so limited, the public policy exception presents no impediment to employers that operate within the bounds of law. Employees are protected against employer actions that contravene fundamental state policy. And society’s interests are served through a more stable job market, in which its most important policies are safeguarded.” Phillips, at 225–27.  The Court went on to say that “The employer is bound, at a minimum, to know the fundamental public policies of the state and nation as expressed in their constitutions and statutes; so limited, the public policy exception presents no impediment to employers that operate within the bounds of law.”  Phillips, at 234.