Castaneda v. The Ensign Group: Parent Corporation May Be Employer of Wholly Owned Subsidiary's Employees

In Castaneda v. The Ensign Group, Inc. (9/15/14) --- Cal.App.4th ---, plaintiff John Castaneda sued The Ensign Group, Inc. (Ensign) in a class action lawsuit alleging wage and hour violations. He alleged that Ensign was the alter ego of the Cabrillo Rehabilitation and Care Center (Cabrillo), the nursing facility where he worked. The trial court granted summary judgment for Ensign, holding that it was not Castaneda's employer as a matter of law. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding as follows:

Under Martinez v. Combs (2010) 49 Cal.4th 35, Castaneda raised a triable issue of material fact as to whether Ensign was his joint employer by introducing, inter alia, evidence of the following:

Ensign was the sole shareholder of Cabrillo and other companies involved in Cabrillo's operations; these entities shared the same corporate address; they used "centralized information technology, human resources, accounting, payroll, legal, risk management, educational and other key services"; they shared corporate officers; Ensign supervised and controlled Cabrillo's employees' job functions; Ensign provided mandatory policy and training videos at Cabrillo; and Ensign handled employee discipline issues at Cabrillo. Slip op. at 5-9. 

The opinion is available here.