Reference no: EM133181003

Please use IRAC when answering each question.

AZ is a national company in the business of retail auto part sales. It has several hundred locations throughout the United States and thousands of employees spread across the 50 states. Sam works as a Territory Sales Manager for AZ, and he is a supervising employee for the company. Sam lives and works in the state of California. Deborah has been working for AZ since 2012. She started as a driver and has worked her way up to become a Commercial Manager for the company. She is also a supervising employee for the company. Deborah also lives and works in the state of California. Since at least 2016, Deborah has been dealing with Sam's inappropriate behavior. The instances below are only a few examples of the types of behavior Deborah has been dealing with, nearly on a daily basis: - Sam complains to Deborah about how unhappy he is in his marriage. Sam also reveals to Deborah that he is having an extramarital affair with a Female, a store manager at a different AZ location. - Sam expresses his obsession with his male private parts on a daily basis to Deborah. He brags about his "big package" and how he "broke" Female because she was a lesbian that he "converted". - Same constantly asks Deborah if he could use her apartment to have sex with Female. Deborah always says no and tells him to stop talking like this to her. - Sam sends Deborah unsolicited photos of his penis on a regular basis. These texts are accompanied by comments like "aren't I big" and "I don't know where to put this." - Sam calls Deborah every day during working hours and rants about sex. Many times, Sam would text Deborah asking whether or not she was "alone" or to inform him when she was on lunch so that he could message or call her. He would share his sexual escapades with her on a regular basis. - If Deborah didn't respond or call fast enough, Sam would call the AZ store Deborah worked at, asking for her and demanding that she provide a response. - Sam would always mention to Deborah how "horny" or "on edge" he felt. - Sam propositioned Deborah for sex several times as well. He would tell Deborah that he and Female were looking for other women to have threesomes with, and would ask Deborah if she wanted to "hang out" with them. Deborah would always say no and express her disgust with him. - Sam even sent Deborah pictures of him having intercourse with other women. - Sam would send Deborah pictures of his "refill" condom packs, stating that they'd last him a couple of weeks. This continued for nearly 5 years. During that time, Deborah complained on at least 3 separate occasions to her direct supervisor, Joanne. Deborah urged Joanne to control Sam and to stop his behavior. However, at each instance, Joanne would simply say she didn't want to deal with it, that she wasn't interested in seeing the texts and pictures, to get rid of them from her phone, to keep her head down, that she had a lot to lose in this industry if she talked about it, and just to keep working and her mouth shut. Deborah felt as if Sam had some sort of leverage over Joanne, and if Deborah did anything to make Sam angry, Deborah's job would be on the line. That is why she continued to just try and 3 of 3 focus on her work. She was a single mom, taking care of her 3 young children. She could not jeopardize losing her job. In early 2021, Sam began preying on one of Deborah's younger coworkers. This coworker had only been working for a month when Sam tried to befriend her by asking her to "hang out." This younger coworker was also a lesbian, and Sam indicated to Deborah that he'd like to "go where no man had gone before." The coworker felt how creepy Sam was and also complained to Joanne. Joanne told the coworker to ignore it. Around that same time, in 2021, Deborah was having lunch at home, on her day off when Sam called her and asked if he could come over for lunch. Deborah said absolutely not, and she began to berate him and tell him to stop preying on female employees of the company. That is when Sam lost it and told Deborah she "should have just let him come over for lunch" and that she was going to pay for this. The next day, Sam wrote an e-mail to Joanne about what a horrible employee Deborah allegedly was, despite the fact that Deborah had never received a negative performance review during her entire career at AZ. When Joanne approached Deborah about the e-mail and talk about it, Deborah knew she could no longer work there. Deborah submitted her resignation right then and there. AZ had a policy of paying out employees who left on good terms with a $2,000 bonus. When Deborah asked when she'd be receiving the bonus, Joanne mentioned that she wouldn't be - because she was being marked as terminated. Deborah is livid and wants AZ to pay for what it did. She does some homework and submits a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing ("DFEH"). She gets a Right to Sue Notice, but she doesn't know what to do next. Deborah now comes to you for some advice. 

1. Does the Fair Employment & Housing Act ("FEHA") apply in this instance? Please explain, in detail, applying material facts identified above to each step of the analysis you lay out. 

2. Applying CA law, and assuming the answer to the first question is yes, what potential employment claims does Deborah have against AZ pursuant to FEHA and/or otherwise? Please be sure to identify each potential claim, listing the elements, and applying the facts to the law. Headings and subheadings are encouraged. 

3. Applying CA law, what potential claims (if any) does Deborah have against Sam individually? 

4. Does Coworker have a potential employment claim against either AZ and/or Sam, pursuant to FEHA and/or otherwise? Please discuss in detail.