Firm files reply in appeal contesting invasive, coerced medical inquiries

October 5, 2021 – Firm lawyers Randy Erlewine, Kyle O’Malley, and Leah Romm today filed a reply to defendants’ answering brief in the Ninth Circuit, further contesting the district court’s dismissal of the firm’s clients’ class action complaint against the nation’s largest pre-employment medical screening provider. That complaint alleged that US Healthworks and a group of Concentra entities systematically violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act and invaded their privacy by subjecting them and hundreds of thousands of California job applicants to dozens of illegal, discriminatory, irrelevant, and invasive medical inquiries as a condition of employment. In its opening brief, the firm requested that the pure questions of California law in the case be referred to the California Supreme Court. The firm was supported in its position by a consortium of disability rights advocates and the State of California. The Ninth Circuit is expected to hold oral argument in Pasadena in early 2022.

UPDATE – November 1, 2021 – The Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument on the firm’s appeal on Jan. 12, 2022 at the federal courthouse in Pasadena.