Jury Awards $1.09 Million Against the EDD in FEHA Retaliation and Failure to Accommodate Case

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, a San Francisco jury determined that the California Employment Development Department violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act when it failed to provide a former employee, the plaintiff, Laura Torres, with a reasonable accommodation and retaliated against her for filing complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The jury also found that the EDD failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent retaliation. The jury awarded Ms. Torres $1,090,000. 

The lawsuit alleged that, in retaliation for an EEOC investigation, the EDD revoked a previously granted accommodation and required Ms. Torres again to work at the switchboard, a job duty which aggravated her back condition and related nerve damage. Ms. Torres remarked after the verdict: "For me, this whole case was about righting a wrong. I knew my supervisors at the EDD could accommodate me because they had accommodated me before and they had accommodated other people. But they were mad at me because I went to the EEOC for help and filed a complaint, so they took the accommodation away." 

Ms. Torres was represented at trial by Gordon Kaupp, of Kaupp & Feinberg, LLP, and Ryan Vlasak, of Bracamontes & Vlasak, P.C.. 

For more information, contact Gordon Kaupp at (415) 896-4588. 

Contact: 
Plaintiff's counsel 
Gordon Kaupp, (415) 896-4588 
[email protected] 
Kaupp & Feinberg, LLP 

SOURCE Kaupp & Feinberg, LLP

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