On Nov. 21, 2006, plaintiff Ram Nehara, a registered nurse at North Kern State Prison who was also an Indian national, told two of his supervisors, Veda McMillen and Judy Pierce, that he felt his safety was threatened when custody officers would escort inmate-patients to Treatment and Triage, but would then leave the inmate-patients alone with Nehara during treatment. Nehara was then informed that “a different RN had raised the same issue to them” the prior week and that “they were ‘working on it.'” Nehara also complained to another one of his supervisors, Reynaldo Dimaano, a Filipino, about discriminatory overtime and shift assignments. On Dec. 22, 2006, Nehara claimed he was retaliated against when a North Kern State Prison custody officer left him alone with a mentally unstable and violent inmate. As a result, the inmate assaulted Nehara and left him with serious . Nehara claimed that when he returned to work, he filed an incident report about the attack, but that on Dec. 25, 2006, custody officers David Ramos and Richard Gibbons ordered him to revise his report to omit the names of any officers. Nehara subsequently complained to the Service Employees International Union and the North Kern State Prison warden about both the attack and the order from custody staff regarding his incident report. On Dec. 26, 2006, the director of nursing at the prison, Michael Cavanaugh, allegedly told Nehara not to write any more reports. Nehara claimed that, thereafter, he was then subjected to baseless administrative proceedings, including an internal affairs investigation and disciplinary hearing. Nehara was ultimately terminated from the prison on April 30, 2009. On June 5, 2009, Nehara was issued an “accusation” by the California Department of Consumer Affairs, charging him with gross negligence and unprofessional conduct. On Oct. 28, 2009, Nehara filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and then amended the EEOC charge on Jan. 20, 2010. The EEOC then issued a right to sue letter on June 24, 2010. The California Board of Registered Nursing issued a decision to revoke Nehara’s nursing license on Aug. 4, 2010. Nehara sued his employers, the state of California, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the North Kern State Prison; his supervisors, McMillen, Pierce and Dimaano; the custody officers that allegedly told Nehara to revise his report, Ramos and Gibbons; the prison’s director of nursing, Cavanaugh; and several other employees of the prison. Nehara alleged that their actions constituted retaliation, disability discrimination, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The matter ultimately continued against the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on the claim of retaliation under Title VII only. Counsel for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation contended that Nehara was terminated for legitimate business reasons after he slept through a shift during which he was required to check on suicidal inmate-patients every 30 minutes, and then falsified their medical records to indicate that he had performed the required observations. Following two separate independent administrative hearings, both the California Board of Registered Nursing and the state Personnel Board concluded that Nehara engaged in the charged misconduct. Counsel for Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation also contended that Nehara failed to engage in the activity protected by Title VII and that Nehara failed to exhaust his administrative remedies under Title VII., Nehara was treated at Delano Regional Medical Center for the he sustained after he was attacked by a violent inmate on Dec. 22, 2006. He was ultimately able to return to work the next day, on Dec. 23, 2006. Nehara sought recovery for his emotional distress as a result of the attack and the alleged retaliation against him. He also sought recovery of lost wages as a result of his termination.