Case Summary

4605 In an action for retaliatory discharge based on plaintiff's claim that she was fired for complaining to a state official about a restructuring of the county office in which she was employed that she believed was illegal, her testimony to that effect, coupled with that of a state official, the former chief financial officer in the county executive office, and her former supervisor who also believed the restructuring was illegal supported the conclusion she reasonably believed a violation was taking place and established plaintiff's prima facie case; the burden shifted to defendant to provide a legitimate non-retaliatory reason, which it did by evidence plaintiff was terminated for prior, unrelated, misconduct; the burden then shifted to plaintiff to show the proffered reason was pretextual, which she did by showing she received effusive praise for the work she did, had never been reprimanded, and always received favorable performance reviews, even after the prior misconduct allegedly occurred, so substantial evidence supported a jury verdict in her favor; evidence that she was harassed on three occasions by a county supervisor who referred to plaintiff's unmarried status and called her an "aging nun," said plaintiff should be lobbying him like other women were doing, while looking her up and down, and saying she had nice legs, and putting his arm around her, rubbing his arm against her breast, demanding to know her exact address, and saying, "'Why the fuck do you have to do something special for Mexicans?" was not sufficient to establish a pattern of continuous, pervasive harassment sufficient to show a hostile work environment.

MOKLER v COUNTY OF ORANGE (Pretextual Termination) 157 CA4 121 [See: LabC 1102.5; GovC 12900 etseq; Patten v Grant Jt UHSD 134 CA4 1378, T/AT 1/06; Green v Ralee 19 C4 66, T/AT 10/98; Herberg v CA Institute 101 CA4 142, T/AT 9/02]