©2024 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2024 Cal-Peculiarities | 77 67 Ignat v. Yum! Brands, Inc., 214 Cal. App. 4th 808, 819 (2013) (“limiting liability for public disclosure of private facts to those recorded in a writing is contrary to the tort’s purpose, which has been since its inception to allow a person to control the kind of information about himself made available to the public—in essence, to define his public persona”). 68 Civ. Code §§ 1798.100(e); 1798.81.5(d)(1)(A). 69 Civ. Code § 1798.150(a)(1)(A). 70 Civ. Code § 1798.155(a). 71 Civ. Code § 1798.80(e) (defining “personal information” as including “any information that identifies, relates to, describes, or is capable of being associated with, a particular individual, including, but not limited to, his or her name, signature, social security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver's license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information”). 72 See Civ. Code § 1798.82(h) (defining “personal information” for purposes of required data breach notices). 73 Civ. Code § 1798.82(a). 74 Civ. Code §§ 1798.82(h)(1)(D), (E), (H); 1798.82(i)(5). 75 Civ. Code § 1798.82(d). 76 Civ. Code § 1798.82(d)(1). 77 Id. 78 Civ. Code § 1798.82(d)(1)(D). 79 See Civ. Proc. Code §§ 1985.6, FI: 0(d) (requiring advance notice to individual when individual’s employment records are being subpoenaed). 80 A rare exception occurred when the Court of Appeal struck down a discovery order that an employer identify all applicants who had reported marijuana convictions on their job applications. Starbucks Corp. v. Superior Ct., 194 Cal. App. 4th 820 (2011). In another victory for privacy, the Court of Appeal in a wrongful-termination case protected from disclosure, via interrogatory answers, personal information that the plaintiff had sought regarding the age, contact information, date of termination, and reason for termination of the defendant employer’s former employees, among other types of information. Life Techs. Corp. v. Superior Ct., 197 Cal. App. 4th 640, 655-56 (2011) (trial court abused discretion in ordering answers to interrogatories without evaluating whether a compelling need for information outweighed third-party privacy and whether less intrusive means would yield the information sought, without giving sufficient notice affording former employees a simple, reasonable means of objecting to disclosure of personal information, and without providing for protection of any information ultimately disclosed). But the California Supreme Court disapproved of Life Techs. in Williams v. Superior Ct., 3 Cal. 5th 531, 557 (2017), stating that “[o]nly obvious invasions of interests fundamental to personal autonomy must be supported by a compelling interest,” leaving plaintiffs and defendants to fight over the compelled disclosure of all but the most private aspects of personal employee information. 81 Belaire-West Landscape, Inc. v. Superior Ct., 149 Cal. App. 4th 554 (2007). 82 Id. at 561-62. 83 Id. at 562. 84 Id. (quoting Phillips v. Gemini Moving Specialists, 63 Cal. App. 4th 563, 571 (1998)). 85 Crab Addison, Inc. v. Superior Ct., 169 Cal. App. 4th 958 (2008) (employees’ execution of release forms objecting to employer’s disclosure of contact information to third parties did not preclude discovery of contact information in class action against employer for violation of wage and labor laws). 86 Stone v. Advance Am., No. 08cv1549 WQH (WMc), 2010 WL 5892501 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 21, 2010) (distinguishing Belaire-West Landscape and ordering that contact information be produced for former employees employed during the class period, without prior notice to them, where plaintiff claimed former employees during class period were percipient witnesses). 87 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. 88 Civ. Code § 1785.1 et seq. 89 Civ. Code § 1785.20.5(a). 90 Id. 91 Lab. Code § 1024.5. 92 Lab. Code § 1024.5(c)(1). 93 Lab. Code § 1024.5(a)(1)-(8). There is an exemption for financial institutions subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. Under Civil Code section 1785.20.5(a), the disclosure to the consumer when a credit report is ordered for employment purposes must identify the applicable exception under Labor Code section 1024.5. 94 Civ. Code § 1786 et seq. 95 Civ. Code § 1786.2(c). 96 Civ. Code § 1786.50(a)(1). 97 See Connor v. First Student, Inc., 5 Cal. 5th 1026, 1038 (2018) (holding that both the ICRAA and CCRAA may apply to the same report and that an employer may be responsible to comply simultaneously with both statutes). 98 Civ. Code § 1786.16(b)(1), (c).
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