Love v. Permanente Med. Group (Summary)

RETALIATION

Love v. Permanente Med. Group, No. 12-cv-05679-WHO (N.D. Cal. Feb. 10, 2014)

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied an employee’s motion for reconsideration of the court’s dismissal of her state law retaliation claim which she brought against her employer, a medical group.  The employee claimed that she was retaliated against for complaining about the medical group’s failure to obtain a restraining order against a patient who had threatened to kill her.  The court concluded that recent production of new evidence did not alter the fact that her retaliation claim was based on allegations that the medical group retaliated against her because of her complaints related to her own safety.  According to the court, for a retaliation claim to move forward under state law, the employee would have had to allege that her complaints were related to “patient safety, care, or conditions at the hospital.