Cameron

MEMORANDUM *

Jeremy Cameron appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of his former employer, T-Mobile USA, Inc. Cameron contends that T-Mobile violated the Oregon Family Leave Act, (“OFLA”), Or.Rev.Stat. §§ 659A.150-659A.186, by including in its termination decision those days that Cameron had been absent from work in order to care for his sick children. The district court declined to rule on the merits of this claim on the ground that Cameron had cited irrelevant portions of the statute in the pretrial order. While the pretrial order does indeed reflect this error, our case law instructs that a pretrial order “should be liberally construed to permit any issues at trial that are ‘embraced within its language.’ ” Miller v. Safeco Title Ins. Co., 758 F.2d 364, 368 (9th Cir.1985) (quoting United States v. First Nat’l Bank of Circle, 652 F.2d 882, 886-87 (9th Cir.1981)). Cameron clearly intended to preserve and present for trial his contention that T-Mobile violated OFLA by taking into account his family leave absences, and the incorrect statutory citation should not have barred consideration of this claim on the merits.

*830 Applying Oregon state law to…