Kheloud Allos worked for Poway Unified School District (PUSD). When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020 she began working remotely. After in-person operations resumed, Allos requested to continue working from home. Initially, she based her request on her desire to protect her elderly mother. Later, she claimed her own medical vulnerabilities made in-person work risky. She claimed that her past reaction to a vaccine meant she could not safely take the COVID-19 vaccine.
PUSD responded with a series of interactive meetings—six in total over nearly two years—to explore accommodations. The district offered Allos a private office and various hybrid work arrangements. Ultimately, Allos agreed to a hybrid schedule and later announced her retirement. She then filed a lawsuit against PUSD under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and various Labor Code provisions, claiming disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, retaliation, and associational discrimination (related to caring for her disabled mother), among others.
PUSD filed a motion for summary judgment asserting Allos’s claims were barred by Government Code section 855.4, which provides immunity to public entitles for decisions related to preventing disease or controlling its spread. The court agreed, holding that PUSD’s decision to end remote work and require in-person attendance was a discretionary act protected under section 855.4. The court also found that Allos’s disability claims failed. The court noted that PUSD had multiple interactive meetings with Allos and provided various accommodations.
The California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment. The Court agreed that section 855.4 provided immunity to PUSD for its decisions related to COVID-19. The court also found that Allos failed to present evidence of a qualifying disability under FEHA, since her alleged vaccine allergy and other health conditions did not constitute a disability. The Court held that PUSD’s interactive process and accommodations were reasonable and that no adverse employment action had occurred because Allos voluntarily retired. The Court concluded that Allos’s claims for associational discrimination, retaliation, and Labor Code violations had no merit.
Kheloud Allos v. Poway Unified School District, 2025 Cal.App. LEXIS 431.