Court Opinion

ID: 9747476
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:17:21.245673+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:23.979111
License: Public Domain

*1263KRIEGLER, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the majority’s holding that summary judgment was properly granted on Henry Avila’s California Fair Employment and Housing Act (the FEHA; Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.) cause of action, but respectfully dissent from reversal of the summary judgment on California’s Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act (the CFRA; Gov. Code, §§ 12945.2, 19702.3) cause of action. The trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of defendant and respondent Continental Airlines, Inc., on Avila’s CFRA cause of action because the undisputed facts show that Avila never requested leave from Chelsea Food Services, a division of Continental Airlines, under the CFRA. In addition, the evidence is undisputed that the decision to terminate Avila’s employment was made by managers who had absolutely no knowledge of the hospitalization and who made the decision based upon Avila’s habitual absences.
One need only look to Avila’s unambiguous deposition testimony in order to conclude the trial court properly granted summary judgment on the basis there was never a request for CFRA leave by Avila. The following testimony was given by Avila in his deposition:
“Q: Okay. Now, at any time, did you ask Chelsea or any manager at Chelsea saying you wanted a leave of absence? You didn’t, did you?
“A: No.
“Q: Okay. You would just miss work when you missed work because of the reasons you explained. But you never asked for—
“A: No, no.
“Q: —leave of advance [sic] or anything like that?
“A: No.
“Q: And did you—and you never asked afterwards to say, let me treat that as a leave?
“A: No.”
As this colloquy makes clear, Avila does not claim to have ever made a request under the CFRA. In fact, it is undisputed that the first time Avila ever mentioned the issue of leave under the CFRA was months after his termination, when Avila filed charges with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The trial court correctly ruled there was no request for leave under the CFRA in granting Chelsea’s motion for summary judgment.
The absence of a request for leave is fatal to Avila’s CFRA cause of action. Under the CFRA, it is “an unlawful employment practice for any employer ... to refuse to grant a request by any employee” who qualifies under *1264the act “for family care and medical leave.” (Gov. Code, § 12945.2, subd. (a), italics added.) The Legislature’s choice of words could not have been clearer—the right to CFRA leave is triggered by an employee’s request.
Not only does the express language of Government Code section 12945.2, subdivision (a) require a request for leave by the employee, the implementing regulation contains a similar requirement. California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 7297.4, subdivision (a)(1) provides that the “[a]n employee shall provide at least verbal notice sufficient to make the employer aware that the employee needs CFRA-qualifying leave, and the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. The employee need not expressly assert rights under CFRA or FMLA, or even mention CFRA or FMLA, to meet the notice requirement; however, the employee must state the reason the leave is needed, such as, for example, the expected birth of a child or for medical treatment. The employer should inquire further of the employee if it is necessary to have more information about whether CFRA leave is being sought by the employee and obtain the necessary details of the leave to be taken.” (Italics added.)
Moreover, if it is not practical to provide advance notice of the need for leave because the need is unforeseeable, the employee must give notice “as soon as practicable.” (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 7297.4, subd. (a)(3).) The regulation clearly contemplates an employee’s request for leave, because “[t]he employer shall respond to the leave request as soon as practicable and in any event no later than ten calendar days after receiving the request(Id., subd. (a)(6), italics added.)
Despite the uncontradicted evidence that Avila never requested leave under the CFRA, the majority holds that Avila’s own conflicting deposition testimony1 regarding how he presented a form from Kaiser Permanente indicating he had been in the hospital in December 2004 somehow required Continental to determine if Avila needed CFRA leave pursuant to California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 7297.4. To the contrary, Continental had no obligation to make any such inquiry because Avila made no request for leave until well after his termination. Whatever obligation an employer has under the regulation was simply never triggered in this case because of the absence of any request for leave.
Avila’s conduct did not constitute a request for leave as defined in the California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 7297.4. He never gave verbal or written notice that he was requesting a leave. He did nothing to let his *1265employer know the reason for his need for a leave. When Avila returned to work in December 2004 after his hospitalization, he did not request leave because he was not terminated. In fact, Avila was not terminated until January 2005, when his habitual absences exceeded that permitted by Continental. At that point, Avila chose to follow an internal appeal process, which he had successfully pursued years earlier when he was also terminated for excessive absences. To suggest that Avila made a request for leave under the CFRA, in the face of these undisputed facts, is entirely inconsistent with the requirements of the CFRA and the California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 7297.4.
In addition to summary judgment being properly granted because a request for leave under the CFRA was never made by Avila, there is a second, independent basis to uphold the grant of summary judgment. It is undisputed the persons responsible for the decision to terminate Avila had no knowledge of his hospitalization. Because the managers had no knowledge of the hospitalization and Avila never made a request for a CFRA leave, I cannot see how there is a triable issue of fact as to whether Continental committed an unlawful employment practice.
Daysi Bellamy, the human resources manager of Chelsea, made the decision to terminate Avila and presented an uncontroverted declaration that she had no knowledge of Avila’s hospitalization before making the termination decision. Similarly, Judy Tañes, the managing director of Chelsea, approved Avila’s discharge, expressly declared that she had no knowledge of Avila’s medical condition, and was unaware of any request for leave from him prior to the date of his termination. There is no evidence anyone affiliated with Chelsea ever saw the Kaiser Permanente report of Avila’s hospitalization prior to the time Avila’s employment was terminated.
There cannot be an unfair employment practice under the CFRA where the employer has no knowledge of the employee’s condition. It is manifestly unreasonable to require an employer to defend against a CFRA cause of action at trial on a claim that it improperly denied leave where the undisputed facts demonstrate the employer had no knowledge of any condition justifying such leave and no request for leave is made by the employee.
In a similar context arising under the FEHA, this court has held that an employee cannot make a prima facie case of discrimination sufficient to survive summary judgment where the undisputed facts show the employer had no knowledge of the employee’s condition. (Trop v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 1133 [29 Cal.Rptr.3d 144] [employee’s claim that she was terminated due to her pregnancy did not survive *1266summary judgment where the undisputed facts demonstrated the employer had no knowledge of the pregnancy].) Here, the absence of any proof that Continental’s decision makers had notice of Avila’s hospitalization, combined with Avila’s admission that he never requested CFRA leave, defeats Avila’s CFRA cause of action.
I would affirm the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in its entirety.
A petition for a rehearing was denied August 28, 2008, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Respondent’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied November 12, 2008, S166950. Baxter, 1, was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

 At various times in his deposition, Avila testified to having no recollection of how he made delivery of the Kaiser Permanente form, that he gave the paperwork to an unidentified manager, that he gave it to someone filling in for a manager, or that he merely left it on a desk.