On August 9, 2011, in
Salas v. Sierra Chemical Co., (California Courts of Appeal – 3rd District, No. C064627) Sierra
Chemical Co. (Sierra) hired Salas in 2003. Salas was injured at work and
did not return due to a supervisor telling him that he should not do so
until his back recovered. Salas sued for disability discrimination, denial
of employment, and failure to make a reasonable accommodation. It was
found out at trial that Salas had used another individual's social
security number to obtain employment at Sierra. Sierra argued that they
would not have hired Salas had they known about the counterfeit social
security number and moved for summary judgment. The trial court agreed.
The appellate court agreed because the after-acquired-evidence doctrine
may act as a complete or partial defense where an employer learns about
an employee's wrongdoing that would have caused them to refuse the
hire the employee in the first place. Additionally, Sierra had a policy
that they would not hire employees who provided false social security
numbers. Therefore, Salas' claims were barred.
