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ARTICLE · 27 SEPTEMBER 2013

Will CA Make It Easier to Prove Discrimination?

Fox Rothschild LLP
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Discrimination is all about motive. If you fire someone because they belong to a protected category, it’s discrimination.

United StatesEmployment and HR
Jeffrey Polsky
Jeffrey Polsky
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Discrimination is all about motive. If you fire someone because they belong to a protected category, it's discrimination. If you fire someone who belongs to a protected category for an unrelated reason, that's not discrimination. Now a bill (SB 655) has passed both houses of the legislature that will make it easier to prove discrimination.

The bill is a reaction to the California Supreme Court's decision earlier this year in Harris v. City of Santa Monica. That case discussed what a discrimination plaintiff must prove when multiple factors motivated the defendant's conduct (i.e. a mixed-motive case). The court concluded that, as one step in the process, a plaintiff must prove that discrimination was a "substantial motivating factor."

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