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Schifando v. City of Los Angeles
Schifando v. City of Los Angeles, a case currently before the California Supreme Court threatens to drastically limit the right of public employees (including UC employees) to sue for discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. In order to bring a lawsuit under the FEHA, a plaintiff has to exhaust the administrative remedies provided by the statute, that is, he or she must file a charge with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and must receive a "right to sue" letter. In the Schifando case, the Second District Court of Appeal (located in the Los Angeles area) held that this was not sufficient for an employee of a public entity that also provided an internal grievance mechanism b
he could not proceed on his FEHA claim unless he also exhausted the employer´s internal procedure.
Equal Rights Advocates´ Higher Education Legal Advocacy Project, joined by other civil and employee rights organizations filed a friend of the court brief arguing that adding "exhaustion" requirements not contemplated by the statute would unduly burden the rights of public employees to seek relief from employment discrimination. It will come as no surprise to many of WAGE´s members that the University of California filed a friend of the court brief supporting the City of Los Angeles, since it has taken this position in litigation on many occasions. In addition, University counsel requested that the Court do nothing that would impinge upon the University´s special status as a "Constitutional" agency. Since the University is known for its burdensome and convoluted internal proceedings, a ruling in its favor on this point would all but eliminate the right of discrimination victims to pursue court action on FEHA claims.
The Schifando case is likely to be a significant ruling
from the Court on how the concept of "exhaustion of administrative
remedies" will be interpreted in the future. For more information,
contact Charlotte Fishman, Director of Equal Rights Advocates´
Higher Education Legal Advocacy Project (cfishman@equalrights.org)
-wage@wage.org-