Decision 0226E – Rio Hondo Community College District (Davis)

Once Charging Party establishes facts from which the Board can infer that his/her protected conduct was a motivating factor in the employer's decision to take an adverse action, burden then shifts to the employer to prove its action would have been the same notwithstanding Charging Party's protected activity; p. 4.

Denial of unpaid leave of absence can constitute an adverse action.

Denial of unpaid leave of absence constitutes disparate treatment where employer never before denied a request for an unpaid leave of absence; p. 5.

Employer introduced no evidence to rebut Charging Party's prima facie case of discrimination, thereby clearly failing to meet its burden of demonstrating that it would have denied Charging Party's request for a leave of absence notwithstanding his/her protected activity.