In plaintiff's employment discrimination and retaliation suit against defendant-agency for being suspended as an administrative law judge on three occasions subsequent to her filing a charge with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging that travel assignments were made discriminatorily, judgment in favor of plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) the doctrine of res judicata does not preclude a state employee from pursuing both internal administrative civil service remedies and those available under the Fair Employment Housing Act; 2) although the doctrine of collateral estoppel may act to preclude a retaliation claim if issues decided in the administrative action eliminate a necessary element of the employee's case, in this case, the administrative agency's findings do not eliminate a necessary element of plaintiff's retaliation action; and 3) there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict.
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Appellate Information
Filed December 9, 2009
Judges
Opinion by Judge Wiseman
Counsel
For Appellant: Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Alicia M. B. Fowler, Assistant Attorney General, Vincent J. Scally, Jr., Noreen P. Skelly, Deputy Attorneys General
For Appellee: Herron & Herron, Joseph Clapp and J. Wynne Herron