ERISA Does Not Preempt a Claim for Retaliatory Discharge following a claim under the California State Industrial Insurance System.
Del Priore v. Citibank (Nevada), N.A., 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 21506 (9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2000) (unpublished)-Del Priore argued that the district court should not have granted summary judgment to Citibank on her claim for retaliatory discharge on account of filing for State Industrial Insurance System benefits. The Ninth Circuit agreed that ERISA does not preempt this claim. While her retaliatory discharge claim sounds virtually identical to her § 510 claim, the two claims reflect different theories: that Citibank was motivated to retaliate against Del Priore for filing an SIIS claim and was motivated to prevent her from obtaining ERISA benefits.
