Section 12130 - Retaliation(a) The Act prohibits retaliation against individuals who exercise their rights to be free from discriminatory or harassing housing practices. It shall be unlawful for any person to take adverse action against an aggrieved person when a purpose for the adverse action is retaliation for engaging in protected activity.(b) Persons Protected. For purposes of a retaliation claim, an aggrieved person includes any person who has alleged that they have been subject to adverse action due to engagement in a protected activity. For purposes of a retaliation claim, the person does not need to have a claim under any other provision of the Act.(c) "Protected activity" includes making a complaint, testifying, assisting or participating in any manner in a proceeding under the Fair Housing Act, Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Unruh Act, or any other federal, state or local law protecting fair housing rights or prohibiting discrimination in housing; opposition to housing practices believed to be discriminatory or made unlawful by a fair housing law; informing law enforcement or other government agencies of practices believed to be discriminatory or made unlawful by a fair housing law; assertion of rights protected by fair housing laws (including in response to perceived harassment); aiding or encouraging a person to exercise their fair housing rights; meeting or assembling with other persons in order to address potential or actual violations of fair housing rights (including, for example, by joining, supporting, or organizing an organization that advances or protects fair housing rights); making a request for a reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification for an individual with a disability even if the request is not granted; or any other action related to access to statutory or constitutional remedial processes or remedies for violations of fair housing laws or laws prohibiting discrimination in housing.(d) Burden-shifting rule. To establish a prima facie case of retaliation in a legal proceeding, a complainant must show that (1) the complainant was engaged in a protected activity; (2) the respondent subjected the complainant to an adverse action; and (3) a causal link exists between the protected activity and the adverse action. If the complainant can establish a prima facie case, the respondent then has the burden to offer a legitimate non-retaliatory reason for the adverse action, whereupon the burden shifts back to the complainant to demonstrate that the proffered reason is pretextual or false.(e) "Purpose" means that retaliation formed some part of the basis for the respondent's action even if it was not the sole motivating factor. The purpose must be more than a remote or trivial factor. Purpose may be established by evidence which indicates that the timing of the adverse action in relation to the respondent's notification of the protected activity is such that retaliatory motivation can be inferred, may be established by the non-existence of another plausible purpose for the respondent's adverse action, or by other direct or circumstantial evidence. For purposes of section 12955(f) of the Act, "dominant purpose" shall have the same meaning as purpose under this subsection.(f) An aggrieved person under this Act may raise retaliation as an affirmative defense in an unlawful detainer action. Nothing in this subsection is intended to cause or permit the delay of an unlawful detainer action due to asserting retaliation as an affirmative defense. Raising retaliation as a good faith affirmative defense does not in and of itself constitute a delay of an unlawful detainer action.Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 12130
1. New section filed 9-16-2019; operative 1-1-2020 (Register 2019, No. 38). Note: Authority cited: Section 12935(a), Government Code. Reference: Sections 12920, 12921, 12927, 12948, 12955 and 12955.7, Government Code.
1. New section filed 9-16-2019; operative 1/1/2020 (Register 2019, No. 38).