Did The Miss California USA Pageant Employ Prejean (And Who Does Such A Factor Really Favor)?
This is actually a pretty critical question, one I should have asked earlier. Why? The Unruh Civil Rights Act does not apply to relations between employer and employee. Isbister v. Boys’ Club of Santa Cruz, Inc. (1985) 40 Cal.3d 72, 83, fn. 12, followed by, inter alia, Alch v. Superior Court (2004) 122 Cal.App.4th 339, 391. That does not mean, of course, that employers may discriminate against employees; it means that the Unruh Act is the wrong act. The right law to have used if she is an employee (or even an independent contractor providing services in a quasi-employment relationship) would be the Fair Employment and Housing Act, commonly called FEHA, and which is found at Government Code §12900. This would hardly blow Prejean’s claim out of the water. But it would mean that she would have to start over — and she would need to make a pre-filing claim with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to get a right-to-sue letter. She certainly still has time to do it; she can make th
