Facts

The California Civil Rights Department formerly Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), on behalf of a group of approximately 330 employees, brought a class action against healthcare service providers Pathways Community Services LLC and Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, alleging a restrictive language policy, failure to prevent harassment and discrimination, and retaliation against all California employees. The Santa Ana Class included all former employees of Pathways Community Services LLC and Pathways Health and Community Support LLC who either identified as bilingual in response to defendants' employee survey, were identified by defendants as bilingual for purposes of their employment or who otherwise were known to be bilingual and employed at defendants' Santa Ana, California office between June 28, 2017, and November 1, 2022. Meanwhile, the Arbitration Class included all current or former Pathways Community Services LLC and Pathways Health and Community Support LLC employees who worked in California at any time between March 6, 2019, through December 31, 2019.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff alleged that defendant violated civil rights laws by adopting a policy prohibiting employees from speaking any language other than English during work hours that had no legitimate business necessity and discriminated based on national origin. Further, plaintiff contended that the defendant enforced the policy with an intent to discriminate based on national origin and that the policy had an unlawful disproportionate impact on workers of particular ethnicities, particularly Latino/a workers at the Santa Ana worksite. Finally, plaintiff argued that defendant issued mandatory arbitration agreement to its California employees that were retaliatory and intended to chill employees' exercise of their rights under the Fair Employment Housing Act.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions.

Settlement Discussions

On May 9, 2022, the parties participated in a fourth mediation session with the Honorable Judge Stephen J. Sundvold (Retired) that resulted in a settlement.

Result

Pursuant to the consent decree resolving the case, Pathways will implement a statewide written anti-discrimination policy overriding any English-only policies. Pathways will also conduct mandatory training regarding the new policy for all employees; require supervisors and managers to attend FEHA training; and distribute a corrective addendum to their arbitration agreement. Pathways will also fund the $500,000 settlement, which includes $370,000 to be distributed to group members; enhancement payments to the five named Real Parties in Interest; and CRD's attorneys fees and costs. A retired judge will monitor compliance with the consent decree for two years.