Law360 names firm lawyers “legal lions”

August 25, 2023 – Today Law360 named the firm one of its “legal lions” of the week for their work on behalf of employees in Raines v. US Healthworks (Case No. S273630). In Raines, a unanimous California Supreme Court held that “an employer’s business entity agents can be held directly liable under the [Fair Employment and Housing Act] for employment discrimination in appropriate circumstances when the business-entity agent has at least five employees and carries out FEHA-regulated activities on behalf of an employer.” The opinion by Justice Jenkins adopted the firm’s arguments in full.

Law360 reported: “Phillips Erlewine Given & Carlin LLP succeeded Monday after the California Supreme Court determined that third parties contracted by employers to screen job applicants can be held responsible under state civil rights law for asking intrusive medical questions. The firm represented two workers who alleged that medical providers conducted thousands of invasive screening exams and asked questions unrelated to job responsibilities. The workers are represented by R. Scott Erlewine, Brian S. Conlon and Kyle P. O'Malley of Phillips Erlewine.”

The case will now return to the Ninth Circuit, which had asked the California Supreme Court to decide this important issue of California law, and is expected to be remanded to the federal district court in San Diego for further proceedings.