Nirschl

INTRODUCTION

Statements made when an employer terminates an employee are not protected by California’s anti-SLAPP law solely because the employer asks the employee to sign a release of claims. Appellants Zachary and Jacquelynn Schiller hired respondent Jewel Nirschl as a nanny. The Schillers terminated Nirschl’s employment. They hoped Nirschl would release potential claims against them in exchange for a severance payment. The Schillers asked a friend (who ran a nanny placement service and had helped hire Nirschl) to propose this to Nirschl. Nirschl did not sign the proposed severance agreement. Instead, she brought wage-and-hour claims against the Schillers. Following discovery, Nirschl amended her complaint to add a claim for defamation. She based her defamation claim on statements Zachary Schiller made to the intermediary during the negotiations over severance. The Schillers responded with an anti-SLAPP motion. They argued that the allegedly defamatory statements were made in anticipation of litigation. They moved to strike not only the new defamation allegations, but also the entire complaint, including wage-and-hour claims not based on the allegedly defamatory statements. The…