Believe it or not, employers sometimes win, but in California, it's a process

Employers are often faced with claims that a termination decision was impermissibly based on the employee's protected category status or exercise of lawful rights. When the assertions are tested in litigation, the employer looks to the court to discern legitimate claims that should proceed to trial versus those to be dismissed without a trial. In the following case, the employer successfully maneuvered through the process to show the termination decision was lawful.

Supervisor's comments trigger investigation

George Choochagi began working for Barracuda Networks, Inc., as a technical support manager in March 2012, reporting to a supervisor named Hossein Ghazizadeh. In July, Choochagi was transferred to a sales engineering manager position reporting to a supervisor named Michael Hughes.

In May 2013, Choochagi told the HR department Ghazizadeh had (1) made inappropriate sexual comments to him about having sex with women at the office and (2) allegedly stated Choochagi wasn't "man enough" for his position. References also were allegedly made to him about not being part of the "boys' club" and "that there was a dark cloud over his head."

During an investigation, Ghazizadeh denied saying anything inappropriate. Barracuda reminding him of its policies and instructed him not to engage in any type of sexually explicit communications.

Choochagi didn't make any further complaints to HR. Neither Hughes nor any of Choochagi's other subsequent supervisors knew anything about the complaint.

Employee's management style comes under scrutiny