Yanowitz v. L'Oreal USA, Inc.

Yanowitz (plaintiff), a regional sales manager at L'Oreal (defendant), was twice ordered by an executive, Wiswall, to fire a female sales associate he considered unattractive, despite Yanowitz never having been asked to fire a male employee on similar grounds. She refused, believing the request was sex discrimination, but never explicitly told L'Oreal she thought it was discriminatory. Soon after, her supervisor began soliciting criticism of her work, escalating to a critical memo and a confrontational meeting; she took stress-related disability leave and was later terminated. She sued for retaliation under California's FEHA; the trial court granted L'Oreal summary judgment, and the court of appeal reversed.

Whether an employee must explicitly complain of a violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act in order to prevail on a claim for retaliation.