Davis

Introduction

Defendants and appellants Continental Airlines, Inc., and Nathaniel Griffin appeal (Code Civ. Proc., § 1294, subd. (a)) from an order denying their motion to compel arbitration of plaintiff and respondent Alsenia Davis’s complaint for sexual harassment in employment brought under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA, Gov. Code, §§ 12900 and 12940 et seq.) with additional contract and tort causes of action. According to the complaint, plaintiff, a female skycap, was sexually harassed verbally and physically by defendant Griffin, a male skycap in a supervisory position.

Defendants contend plaintiff must resolve her dispute by means of the steps in a company “appeal procedure” specified in an employee handbook. The trial court denied defendants’ motion to compel arbitration, on the alternative grounds that (1) the employee handbook does not set forth a mandatory agreed procedure as an alternative to court litigation, and (2) defendants waived any right to compel arbitration, by unreasonably delaying their motion until after obtaining extensive discovery from plaintiff. We affirm the order on the ground defendants have waived any right to compel…