McClung v. Employment Development Department

**What Happened** Manuel McClung sued both his employer, the California Employment Development Department, and his coworker Manuel Lopez for workplace harassment and creating a hostile work environment. The harassment occurred before 2001, but McClung filed his lawsuit after California changed its employment law in 2001 to allow workers to sue individual coworkers directly for harassment. **What the Court Decided** The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lopez, the coworker. The court decided that the 2001 law change allowing workers to sue individual coworkers could not be applied retroactively to harassment that happened before the law was passed. Since McClung's harassment occurred before 2001, he could not use the new law to hold Lopez personally responsible. **Why This Matters for Workers** This decision clarifies an important timing rule for harassment lawsuits. Workers can only sue individual coworkers for harassment if the misconduct happened after the 2001 law took effect. For harassment that occurred before 2001, workers can still sue their employers, but they cannot hold individual coworkers personally liable. This ruling emphasizes the importance of understanding when new workplace protection laws take effect and what conduct they cover.