A determination by the Workers Comp. Appeals Board or its administrative law judge that plaintiff was not entitled to workers comp. benefits which he sought for psychiatric injuries arising from the discrimination, harassment and retaliation in employment, based on his ethnicity, was given res judicata effect in the employee’s civil suit under FEHA for adverse employment actions based on the same allegations of ethnicity discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The alleged wrongful acts gave rise to a single cause of action for which separate remedies were available in court and through the Workers Comp. Appeals Board. An administrative determination of that single cause of action operated as res judicata in the alternative judicial forum.
California Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District (Gomes, J.); October 12, 2017; 2017 WL 4546059.