Can employee file suit in the county where she’s working remotely?

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) has a special venue provision letting employees file suit “in any county in the state in which the unlawful practice is alleged to have been committed, in the county in which the records relevant to the practice are maintained and administered, or in the county in which the aggrieved person would have worked . . . but for the alleged unlawful practice.”

The California Court of Appeal recently decided where an executive assistant could file an employment discrimination lawsuit when she was working remotely and the employer’s office was in a different county.

Remote work when discrimination occurred

Eleanor Malloy was hired as an assistant to the CEO of a printing company in 2018. According to Malloy, during her first 18 months at the company, the CEO routinely made offensive comments to and about her, including denigrating her because of her gender, expressing an inappropriate interest in her personal life, and suggesting they could become a couple.

Malloy claimed she and other employees began working remotely on March 17, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-September 2020, she called the CEO to tell him she was pregnant. She said he congratulated her and said she would be able to work from home both during and after her pregnancy in light of health concerns posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.