AUGUST 2006

JUDICIAL UPDATES

Attorney May Sign DFEH Complaint on Behalf of Employee

In Blum v. Superior Court (California Court of Appeal, 2nd Appellate District Case No. B189560), the trial court dismissed an employee’s lawsuit based on violations of the Fair Employment & Housing Act on the ground that the employee’s attorney, not the employee, had verified the discrimination complaints with the Department of Fair Employment & Housing.  The trial court concluded that this meant that the employee had not exhausted his administrative remedy of a proper DFEH complaint.  On appeal, however, the Court of Appeal found no prohibition in the relevant statute against an attorney’s signing such a complaint on behalf of the employee.  Accordingly, an attorney may verify a DFEH complaint for his or her client by signing his or her own name to the complaint, but the attorney may not verify the complaint by signing the client’s name.  The court stated in its decision that attorneys should not sign a complaint unless they believe that the allegations made in it are true, and the attorneys are acting in good faith. 

Usually, an employee filing a DFEH complaint has not yet retained an attorney.  However, if your company receives a DFEH complaint that is signed by an attorney, not the employee, the complaint cannot be stricken simply because of the attorney’s signature.

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