Exhaust Your Administrative Remedies. Or Else, Where There’s Smoking, There’s Firing.

Plaintiff worked for the State of California and the California Assembly. He complained to his supervisor that another supervisor was smoking inside the working premises. Two weeks later, plaintiff was fired. Plaintiff brought an action for retaliatory discharge, and defendants demurred, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction because plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies pursuant to Labor Code section 98.7. The trial court sustained the demurrer. The appellate court affirmed dismissal of plaintiff’s action, concluding that under the exhaustion rule reaffirmed in Campbell v. Regents of California (2005) 35 Cal.4th 311, [106 P.3d 976; 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 320], exhaustion is required. MacDonald v. State of California  (Cal. App. Third Dist.; August 27, 2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 67.