The trial court dismissed the case. The court of appeal reversed. The appellate court decided Yau had adequately alleged a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy based on his allegations of warranty fraud. But that's not really the interesting part of the case.
The interesting part is that the court of appeal decided that no cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress is available separate from the wrongful termination claim. The court finally addressed a 2008 California Supreme Court decision that I have been pushing up hill for years. Here's how the appellate court saw it:
Physical and emotional injuries sustained in the course of employment are pre-empted by the workers’ compensation scheme and generally will not support an independent cause of action. (Cole v. Fair Oaks Fire Protection Dist. (1987) 43 Cal.3d 148, 160 (Cole).) Emotional injuries caused by workplace discipline, including termination, fall within this rule. (Ibid.; see also Shoemaker v. Myers (1990) 52 Cal.3d 1, 7.) * * *
Yau relies on a series of cases that have found exceptions to this general rule of preemption when the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim is based on conduct that violates a fundamental public policy. (See e.g., Cabesuela v. Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc. (1998) 68 Cal.App.4th 101, Leibert v. Transworld Systems, Inc. (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 1693; Phillips v. Gemini Moving Specialists (1998) 63 Cal.App.4th 563.) Those cases were decided before our Supreme Court’s decision in Miklosy v. Regents of University of California (2008) 44 Cal.4th 876 (Miklosy), which held the exception to workers’ compensation preemption for employer “conduct that ‘contravenes fundamental public policy’ is aimed at permitting a Tameny action [for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy] to proceed despite the workers’ compensation exclusive remedy rule.” (Id. at pp. 902-903.) This exception does not, however, allow a “distinct cause of action, not dependent upon the violation of an express statute or violation of fundamental public policy.” (Id. at p. 902.) Miklosy held that even “‘severe emotional distress’” arising from “‘outrageous conduct’” that occurred “at the worksite, in the normal course of the employer-employee relationship” is the type of injury that falls within the exclusive province of workers’ compensation. (Ibid.) “‘An employer’s intentional misconduct in connection with actions that are a normal part of the employment relationship . . . resulting in emotional injury is considered to be encompassed within the compensation bargain, even if the misconduct could be characterized as “manifestly unfair, outrageous, harassment, or intended to cause emotional disturbance.”’ [Citation.]” (Vasquez, supra, 222 Cal.App.4th at p. 833.)
This case is Yau v. Santa Margarita Ford, Inc. and the opinion is here.
