Employees Can Sue for Discrimination

The Labor Code states that workers’ compensation is an employee’s exclusive remedy for an injury and does not allow an employee to file a civil lawsuit. However, employees can sue for other types of discrimination.

In City of Moorpark v. The Superior Court of Ventura County, the California Supreme Court ruled that employees who suffer discrimination based on a work-related disability can sue for disability discrimination, a violation of FEHA, and for common-law wrongful termination. Before this decision, employees who suffered discrimination based on a work-related injury could seek remedies only under the workers’ compensation system.¹