EMPLOYER DISCRIMINATION; DISCRIMINATION – In General; Elements of Prima Facie Case

Single Topic for Decision 2106Sa


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501.00000 – EMPLOYER DISCRIMINATION; DISCRIMINATION
501.01000 – In General; Elements of Prima Facie Case

* * * OVERRULED IN PART by Los Angeles County Superior Court (2018) PERB Decision No. 2566-C, where the Board clarified that under Campbell Municipal Employees Association v. City of Campbell (1982) 131 Cal.App.3d 416, a charging party may establish “discrimination in its simplest form” via evidence of “employer conduct that is facially or inherently discriminatory, such that the employer’s unlawful motive can be inferred without specific evidence.” In the absence of evidence sufficient to trigger the Campbell standard, PERB applies the Novato analysis of nexus factors.* * *

The discrimination/retaliation standard set forth in Novato Unified School District (1982) PERB Decision No. 210, applies when an employer is alleged to have taken an adverse action against an individual employee because of the employee’s participation in protected activity. The discrimination standard set forth in Campbell Municipal Employees Assn. v. City of Campbell (1982) 131 Cal.App.3d 416, applies when the employer is alleged to have discriminated between two groups of employees because one of the groups participated in protected activity. To establish a prima facie case under the Campbell standard, the charging party must show that the employer engaged in conduct which could have harmed employee rights to some extent. The employer’s provision of lower cost dental benefits to non-union member employees established a prima facie case of discrimination against employees who exercised their right to join the union.