Salas v. Sierra Chem. Co.

• Decision Date: 26 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. S196568.,S196568.
• Citation: 327 P.3d 797,173 Cal.Rptr.3d 689,59 Cal.4th 407
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: Vicente SALAS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. SIERRA CHEMICAL CO., Defendant and Respondent.

59 Cal.4th 407

327 P.3d 797

173 Cal.Rptr.3d 689

Vicente SALAS, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.SIERRA CHEMICAL CO., Defendant and Respondent.

No. S196568.

Supreme Court of California

June 26, 2014.

Pine & Pine, Norman Pine ; The Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center, Christopher Ho, Araceli Martínez–Olguín, Marsha J. Chien; Rancaño & Rancaño, David Rancaño; Stevens Law and Margaret P. Stevens for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Cynthia L. Rice, Kate Hegé and Julia L. Montgomery for California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, The Asian Law Caucus, Inc., Asian Pacific–American Legal Center of Southern California, Golden Gate Women's Employment Rights Clinic, Legal Aid of Marin, Worksafe, Inc., Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., California Employment Lawyers Association, Labor and Employment Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, UFCW Local 5, SEIU Local 1021 and SEIU–USWW as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Julia Harumi Mass ; Jennifer Chang Newell, Taylor & Company Law Offices, Stephen E. Taylor, Stephen McG. Bundy and Joshua R. Benson for The American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Della Barnett, Michael Caesar; Eunice Hyunhye Cho ; Linton Joaquin, Karen C. Tumlin and Josh Stehlik for Impact Fund, National Employment Law Project, National Immigration Law Center, Bet Tzedek, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Disability Rights Legal Center, Dolores Street Community Services, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Immigration Center for Women and Children, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Public Advocates, Inc. Public Counsel and Public Law Center as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Beeson, Tayer & Bodine and Jason Rabinowitz for Raquel Aldana, Keith Cunningham–Parmeter, Ruben Garcia, Kate Griffith and Leticia Saucedo as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

William A. Herreras ; Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, James C. Harrison and Margaret R. Prinzing for California Applicants' Attorneys Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Freeman D'Aiuto Pierce Gurev Keeling & Wolf, Freeman Firm, Arnold J. Wolf, Thomas H. Keeling and Michael N. Morlan for Defendant and Respondent.

Proskauer Rose and Harold M. Brody for Employers Group as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

KENNARD, J.^*

Plaintiff sued his former employer under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA; Gov.Code, § 12900 et seq. ), alleging that defendant employer failed to reasonably accommodate his physical disability and refused to rehire him in retaliation for plaintiff's having filed a workers' compensation claim. Thereafter, defendant learned of information suggesting that plaintiff, to gain employment with defendant, had used another man's Social Security number.

The trial court denied defendant employer's motion for summary judgment. When defendant sought a writ of mandate in the Court of Appeal, that court issued an alternative writ. In response, the trial court vacated its order denying defendant's motion for summary judgment, and it entered an order granting the motion. Plaintiff employee appealed from the ensuing judgment, which the Court of Appeal affirmed. It held that plaintiff's action was barred by the doctrines of after-acquired evidence and unclean hands (based on information defendant acquired during discovery showing wrongdoing by plaintiff), and that here application of those doctrines was not precluded by Senate Bill No. 1818 (2001–2002 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 1818), enacted in 2002 (Stats.2002, ch. 1071, pp. 6913–6915). That state law declares: "All protections, rights and remedies available under state law, except any reinstatement remedy prohibited by federal law, are available to all individuals regardless of immigration status who have applied for employment, or who are or who have been employed, in this state." (Stats.2002, ch. 1071, § 1, p. 6913, italics added.)

After we granted plaintiff employee's petition for review, we asked both parties for supplemental briefing on whether federal immigration law preempts California's Senate Bill No. 1818, an issue the parties had not raised before. We conclude: (1) Senate Bill No. 1818, which extends state law employee protections and remedies to all workers "regardless of immigration status," is not preempted by federal immigration law except to the extent it authorizes an award of lost pay damages for any period after the employer's discovery of an employee's ineligibility to work in the United States; and (2) contrary to the Court of Appeal's holdings, the doctrines of after-acquired evidence and unclean hands are not complete defenses to a worker's claims under California's FEHA, although they do affect the availability of remedies. Accordingly, we reverse and remand the matter for further proceedings.

I

Because this case arises from an order granting summary judgment to a defendant, we briefly set forth the governing principles. A trial court should grant a defendant's motion for summary judgment if no triable issue exists as to any material fact and the defendant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. On appeal, we review the matter independently, resolving in the plaintiff's favor any doubts regarding the propriety of summary judgment. ( Elk Hills Power, LLC v. Board of Equalization (2013) 57 Cal.4th 593, 605–606, 160 Cal.Rptr.3d 387, 304 P.3d 1052.)

Defendant Sierra Chemical Co. manufactures, packages, and distributes chemicals for treating water, including water in swimming pools. As the weather gets warmer in spring and summer, consumer demand for defendant's products increases, while in fall and winter demand decreases, which in turn results in defendant's seasonal layoffs of many production line employees. Those laid-off workers generally are recalled to work when consumer demand rises.

In April 2003, plaintiff Vicente Salas applied for a job with defendant, providing a Social Security number and a resident alien card. He completed and signed, under penalty of perjury, federal Immigration and Naturalization form I–9, in which he listed the same Social Security number he had given to defendant, and he attached to the form a copy of a Social Security card with that number. He also signed an employee's Internal Revenue Service withholding form W–4, which had the same Social Security number he had given defendant. In May 2003, plaintiff began working on defendant's production line.

In October 2003, plaintiff was laid off because of defendant's seasonal reduction of production line workers. In March 2004, when plaintiff was called back to work, he used the same Social Security number as before, and the same number again appeared on federal I–9 and W–4 forms he completed. In December 2004, plaintiff was again laid off. When he was recalled to work in March 2005, the federal W–4 form he signed had the same Social Security number he had provided earlier. Plaintiff was not laid off during the fall and winter of 2005.

In late 2004 or early 2005, plaintiff received a letter from the federal Social Security Administration stating that his name and Social Security number did not match the agency's records. Some of his coworkers received similar letters. Plaintiff asserts that a few days later defendant's production manager, Leo Huizar, told the workers not to worry about discrepancies with Social Security numbers because as long as the company's president was satisfied with their work they would not be terminated.

In March 2006, plaintiff injured his back while stacking crates on defendant's production line, and he was taken to a hospital. The next day, plaintiff returned to work under a physician's restrictions that he was not to lift anything weighing more than 10 to 15 pounds; he was not to sit, stand, or walk for prolonged periods; and he was to limit bending, twisting, and stooping at the waist. Defendant employer modified plaintiff's work duties accordingly. On June 9, after giving defendant a doctor's release, plaintiff resumed full duties.

On August 16, 2006, plaintiff again injured his back while stacking crates and was taken to the hospital. That same day he returned to work, finishing his shift under the same work restrictions as before. Thereafter, plaintiff filed a workers' compensation claim for his workplace back injury. Plaintiff still came to work, performing modified duties, until December 15, 2006, when he was laid off during defendant's seasonal reduction of workers.

In either late January or early February of 2007, plaintiff started working for another company. According to plaintiff's declaration filed in opposition to defendant employer's motion for summary judgment, Leo Huizar, defendant's production manager, telephoned him in March 2007. Huizar asked plaintiff if he wanted to return to work and if he had fully recovered from his back injuries. When plaintiff said he was still seeing a doctor, Huizar responded that plaintiff could "not return to work like that," adding it would violate defendant employer's policies to do so.

On May 1, defendant sent plaintiff a letter stating that it was recalling laid-off employees and informing him to call or come to defendant's office to make arrangements to return to work. The letter also told him to bring "a copy of your doctor's release stating that you have been released to return to full duty."

According to Huizar's declaration in support of defendant's motion for summary judgment, plaintiff contacted Huizar on May 6, 2007, and said that he had not reported for work as he had not yet been released by his physician but that he...