In Ly v. County of Fresno, published October 12, 2017, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment granted the defendant county in a Fair Employment and Housing Act discrimination case brought by three correctional officers. The officers pursued the FEHA action and workers' compensation proceedings simultaneously, with both arising out of alleged employment discrimination based on their race. In the workers' compensation proceedings, the county established the affirmative defense that the county's actions were non-discriminatory, good faith personnel decisions. After the workers' compensation proceedings were final, the county moved for summary judgment in the FEHA action, asserting that the results were res judicata and collateral estoppel on whether the county engaged in employment discrimination against the plaintiffs. The trial court granted the motion.
The appellate court agreed that res judicata barred the FEHA action. Workers' compensation is not the exclusive remedy for an employee who alleges racial or national discrimination; the employee may pursue a workers' compensation claim for psychiatric injury from the alleged discrimination, a FEHA action, or both. In the workers' compensation claim, the employer may raise the affirmative defense that the psychiatric injury was caused by a lawful, nondiscriminatory, good faith personnel action. The same primary right was at stake in both the workers' compensation and FEHA actions: recovery for the psychiatric injuries caused by the allege discrimination. When two tribunals have jurisdiction, and neither party objects to the tribunals' jurisdiction, the first final decision from one tribunal becomes res judicata in the second tribunal.
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