Sada v. Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center
| Decision Date | 01 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. B097966,B097966 |
| Citation | 56 Cal.App.4th 138,65 Cal.Rptr.2d 112 |
| Parties | , 78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1155, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5277, 97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 8549 Rosalva SADA, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. ROBERT F. KENNEDY MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Law Offices of Chad Batzkovich and Chad Batzkovich, Van Nuys, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Rushfeldt, Shelley & Drake, Linda C. Miller and Christine T. Hoeffner, Sherman Oaks, for Defendant and Respondent.
Plaintiff Rosalva Sada, a registered nurse, worked on a temporary basis at defendant Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center ("Medical Center") as an independent contractor. When the Medical Center had openings for full-time employees on the nursing staff, Sada submitted an application and was interviewed. The Medical Center did not hire Sada but continued to use her on a temporary basis.
Sada, who is of Mexican descent, complained to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing ("DFEH") that, in rejecting her for full-time employment, the Medical Center had violated the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov.Code, § 12900 et seq.) ("FEHA" or the "Act"). She claimed that she was denied the job because of her national origin and ancestry. Within a few days after the DFEH contacted the Medical Center to investigate Sada's claim, she was terminated.
Sada filed this action under the FEHA, alleging claims of discriminatory hiring and retaliatory termination. The trial court granted summary judgment for the Medical Center, concluding that Sada was not qualified for a full-time position.
On appeal, the parties address the principal legal question of whether the FEHA covers independent contractors. The Medical Center argues that, even if Sada was terminated because she complained about discriminatory hiring, the Act does not apply to her because she was an independent contractor. We find it unnecessary to decide whether the Act covers independent contractors. We conclude that, as an applicant for an employee position, Sada was protected against retaliation for protesting discriminatory hiring. Included within the matters protected was Sada's work for the Medical Center on a temporary basis. We further conclude that triable issues of material fact preclude summary judgment on the discriminatory hiring claim. We therefore reverse.
Sada was born in Reynosa, Mexico, in 1950 and is of Mexican ancestry. She is a citizen of the United States. She has blond hair, is light complected, and speaks English without an accent. She is fluent in Spanish.
Sada began her nursing career in Texas. In 1982, she became a licensed vocational nurse and, in 1988, she became licensed as a registered nurse. From 1988 through 1992, Sada held nursing positions with various hospitals in Texas. For health reasons, she took a leave of absence from March 1992 through August 1993. In August 1993, Sada moved to California. Here, she received a temporary license as a registered nurse in September 1993 and a permanent license in April 1994.
Beginning in December 1993, Sada obtained work through a nurses' registry known as Nurse Providers. (See Civ.Code, § 1812.524, subd. (b) [defining "nurses' registry"].) As a registry nurse, Sada worked several days a month at different hospitals as an independent contractor. 1 From December 1993 through July 28, 1994, she worked in the "definitive observation unit" at the Medical Center. That unit provides telemetry care, which is the electronic monitoring of heart rhythms of cardiac patients. Until the last day of her employment at the Medical Center, Sada did not receive any oral or written criticism of her performance. In fact, she received numerous compliments on her work, including at least 12 written evaluations by charge nurses that praised On one occasion, a Hispanic patient complained to Sada about the lack of Spanish-speaking nurses on a particular shift and his resulting inability to communicate with the staff about the pain he was experiencing. Sada relayed the complaint to Patricia Brendia, the director of the definitive observation unit. In response, Brendia said, "Hispanics spend 20 to 30 years in this country and do not bother to learn English, but they sure can find those public offices where they can get food stamps and all kinds of public assistance." 3
her performance. Sada typically worked five to eight days a month at the Medical Center. 2
In May 1994, Sada learned that the Medical Center had openings for full-time employees on the nursing staff in the definitive observation unit. She completed and submitted a job application. On June 6, 1994, Brendia interviewed Sada for one of the positions. During the interview, Brendia spoke favorably of Sada's performance and complimented her ability to complete assignments. At one point, Brendia asked Sada, "Where are you from?" and Sada said that she was from Mexico. Brendia responded by saying twice, "I would never have known," and then asked, "How come you don't have an accent?" Sada explained that she had attended a Catholic school where English was required and some of the teachers were American. Brendia also inquired about Sada's work experience during the 1990-1991 time frame. Sada stated that she had been working at hospitals in the United States and commuting to her home in Mexico. Upon hearing this information, Brendia's eyes "popped open." She stared for a little while and then said, "Well why don't you just go back to Mexico and work there?" Sada replied that she did not want to work in Mexico. She attempted to explain that the only work she had done in Mexico was missionary work, but Brendia interrupted her, saying, "We're going to have to end this." Brendia told Sada that she was not eligible for the job. 4 Five other individuals were hired to fill the positions.
The day after the interview, Sada telephoned Brendia to explain why she had been living in Mexico and working in the United States. Brendia said that she was too busy to discuss the matter. When Sada asked if she needed to fill out another job application to apply for other nurse positions at the Medical Center, Brendia answered, "There are no openings." Sada then placed a telephone call to the Medical Center's "job line" and learned that there were numerous openings on the nursing staff.
Although Sada was not hired as an employee, the Medical Center continued to use her on an independent contractor basis to work in the definitive observation unit. On July 20, 1994, Sada went to the DFEH and complained that the Medical Center had refused to hire her as an employee because of her national origin and ancestry. Sada did not file a formal charge at that time, but asked the DFEH to attempt to resolve the problem informally.
On July 22, 1994, Robert Hammock, an investigator with the DFEH, spoke by telephone with Louis Gregorio, who worked in the Medical Center's human resources department. Hammock wanted to know why Sada did not get a job offer. Gregorio said he would look into the matter.
Within a day or two, Gregorio talked to Brendia by telephone and asked to see any documentation explaining why Sada was not hired. Gregorio met with Brendia a few days later, at which time he reviewed Sada's job application. Brendia told him that Sada Brendia directed that Sada's job performance be "reevaluated," which occurred on July 28, 1994. The evaluation was performed by Pat Heasley, a registered nurse whom Sada had previously reported for making mistakes in treating a patient. 5 Heasley found alleged deficiencies in Sada's performance and documented them in a written evaluation. On July 29, 1994, Brendia telecopied the evaluation to Sada's registry, together with a "do not send" letter, which had the effect of terminating Sada's work at the Medical Center. Brendia did not give Sada an opportunity to explain or refute the alleged deficiencies before terminating her services. On August 3, 1994, Sada wrote a detailed letter to the Medical Center, denying the accusations in the performance evaluation.
did not get the job because she was not qualified. No other reason was given.
On August 11, 1994, Sada filed formal charges with the DFEH, contending that the Medical Center had denied her a full-time position because of her national origin/ancestry and had terminated her in retaliation for protesting the discriminatory hiring decision. This lawsuit followed, in which Sada alleged (1) causes of action against the Medical Center and Brendia for violations of the FEHA, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and (2) causes of action against only the Medical Center for intentional and negligent spoliation of evidence. In response to the lawsuit, Brendia told a co-worker in late 1994:
In September 1995, the Medical Center and Brendia moved for summary judgment or, in the alternative, summary adjudication of issues, arguing that (1) Sada was not hired for a full-time position because she was not qualified, (2) Sada could not maintain a retaliation claim under the FEHA because she was an independent contractor, (3) the retaliation claim failed in any event because Sada was terminated for a legitimate, nonretaliatory reason (i.e., patient errors), and (4) Sada's remaining claims failed for lack of evidence. The trial court concluded that, as a matter of law, Sada was not qualified for the full-time position. Based on that conclusion, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the Medical Center and Brendia. Sada filed a timely appeal from the judgment.
Sada contends that the trial court erred in granting summary...
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