Opinion ID: 2567202
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: summary of relevant facts

Text: Plaintiff Elysa J. Yanowitz alleges the following. She was a regional sales manager based in San Francisco for defendant L'Oreal USA, Inc. (L'Oreal). Sometime during the fall of 1997, Jack Wiswall, the New York-based general manager of L'Oreal's designer fragrance division and one of Yanowitz's superiors within the company, ordered her to terminate a female salesperson because he thought she was not good looking enough. In her declaration, plaintiff described the salesperson as a dark-skinned woman who she believed was of Iranian descent. Wiswall told her something like, Get me somebody hot. Plaintiff did not carry out the order because she believed it was unlawful. In a declaration that she prepared for this litigation, she explained the reasons for her belief: This was the first time in all of my years as Regional Sales Manager that anybody had ever asked me to make a final employment decision based upon the physical appearance, much less the subjective physical appearance, of an employee. And there never was any suggestion that any of the males who were under my supervision should be hired, evaluated, promoted, or fired because of their physical appearances. At the time that Wiswall gave the instruction, there was a male sales associate in Cosmair's [L'Oreal's former name] Ralph Lauren installation in Macy's San Francisco Union Square Branch. I also had a male account executive in Seattle, Washington, and until recently, or conceivably even at that time, I had a male coordinator in Macy's San Francisco Union Square Branch. In earlier years, I had had two other male account executives. I had hired one of these individuals as a coordinator and later promoted him to an account executive. And shortly before I went out on disability leave, I had made a job offer to another male for a coordinator's position, as I recall, in Macy's Union Square Branch. Because of these facts, she believed that it was contrary to both federal and state sex discrimination laws to terminate a female employee who was performing satisfactorily and who presented herself in a businesslike fashion because of the subjective belief of a male corporate officer that the woman did not fit his notions of physical attractiveness, when opinions as to the physical attractiveness of male employees never were taken into consideration in connection with any employment decisions. Sometime later, when Wiswall learned that the employee had not been dismissed, he told plaintiff something like, Didn't I tell you to get rid of her, I want her out of here. He observed a young attractive blonde girl, very sexy, and told plaintiff to get me one that looks that. She responded, Jack, you've got to give me adequate reasons or justification for dismissing her. In her declaration, plaintiff states, After the initial directive, Wiswall persisted in questioning me whether [the salesperson] had been terminated or when I would terminate her. I protested to Wiswall on a number of occasions that he had to give me a justifiable reason to terminate this employee. The matter became particularly difficult when ... in March 1998, I learned that [the salesperson] was one of the top performers in the men's fragrance department throughout the entire chain. When asked specific questions during her deposition regarding the number of times she spoke with Wiswall on this subject, she could remember only the initial directive and a single follow-up conversation. She could not specifically remember additional conversations with Wiswall on the subject. Plaintiff did not say anything to Wiswall to convey that she felt the order was discriminatory other than asking him to give her adequate grounds to dismiss her. She does not allege that she told Wiswall that the salesperson in question was a top performer. She never reported to Richard Roderick, her immediate supervisor within the company, or anyone else within the company, including the human resources department, that she believed she had received a discriminatory order from Wiswall. She explained in her declaration that she said nothing to Roderick about her concerns because she did not have any confidence that Roderick would say, much less do, anything. I found Roderick to be totally ineffectual and lacking independence. Moreover, she did not report Wiswall to or seek assistance from [the] Human Resources Department, because I did not have any confidence that that Department would provide any assistance in dealing with Wiswall. That Department did not have the reputation of assisting lower level employees or even middle management personnel in disputes involving upper management. Ultimately, plaintiff did not terminate the salesperson and, apparently, no one else did either. L'Oreal also did not terminate or demote plaintiff, but she alleges that, as a result of her not terminating the salesperson, she was subjected to other adverse employment actions. She eventually departed the company on disability leave due to stress. In this action, plaintiff alleged, among other things, that she was the victim of discriminatory retaliation due to her refusal to carry out the order to fire the female employee, an order that, she believed, would have violated the prohibition against discrimination by sex established in the FEHA. The trial court granted L'Oreal's motion for summary judgment, but the Court of Appeal reversed as to the retaliation cause of action. We granted L'Oreal's petition for review and must now decide whether the facts of this case state a valid cause of action for unlawful retaliation under the FEHA.