Union Representative May Not Challange Union's Decision To Fire Him After he Lied About HIs Legal Background While Applying for Job

September 28, 2012

Batarse v. Service Employees International Union Local 1000, California Courts of Appeal-5th District, No. F062063, Sept. 27, 2012

     Ray Batarse served as a labor Relations Representative for the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 (SEIU) from March 17, 2008 until his termination on Aug. 8, 2008. After being terminated, he sued the SEUI, alleging race discrimination. In the SEIU'S motion for summary judgment, it asserted that Batarse was a probationary, at will employee, who was fired for making misrepresentations about his legal background in his employment application and during interviews. batarse opposed the SEIU's motion, but did not include a separate statement of disputed, and undisputed facts in his opposition motion. Instead, his reply showed at most that a co-worker was "mean and unruly." The trial court granted SEIU's motion, given that Batarse's motion was defective. 
    Affirmed. In an action asserting claims of race discrimination, the plaintiff bears the initial burden of proving discrimination occurred. The employer may do so by showing it had a legitimate business reason, unrelated to race, for taking its employment action. Next, the plaintiff has the burden of rebutting the employer's showing by pointing to evidence that raises a rational inference that intentional discrimination or retaliation occurred. Here, the SEIU's motion presented evidence that it had legitimate business reasons for terminating Batarse. However, Batarse's response did not present his own additional facts attempting to show that SEIU'S asserted legitimate business reason was actually a pretext for discrimination. Further, his assertion that an SEIU's employee was "mean and unruly" was insufficient to establish any discriminatory animus. Thus, this court determined the trial court's decision was correct.
Opinion by Justice Hill

http://beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com/