Hatcher

INTRODUCTION

In December 2019, at 64 and a half years of age, William Hatcher retired from the City of El Segundo (City) with approximately 27 years of service credit, having worked the last 19 of those years as a fire prevention specialist (FPS) for the El Segundo Fire Department (Department). A little over a year later, he filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH1) alleging City had failed to accommodate his knee disability and constructively discharged him because his workload had been increased to the point he was “eventually . . . unable to keep up with” it. After receiving a right to sue letter from DFEH, Hatcher sued City, asserting claims under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA; Gov. Code,2 § 12900 et seq.) for discrimination on the bases of age and physical disability, and for failure to accommodate a physical disability. The trial court granted summary judgment to City. It found there was no triable issue as to whether Hatcher had been constructively discharged or suffered any other type of adverse employment action, and thus rejected his discrimination claims. The court found Hatcher’s failure to…